Three Igbo United States of America (USA)-based groups, American Military Veterans of Igbo Descent, the Rising Sun (TRS) and the Ambassadors for Self Determination (ASD) have tasked Justice James Omotosho, who is the new judge to preside over the trial of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, to enforce the Supreme Court’s decisions on the matter.

Kanu’s case was reassigned to Justice Omotosho following the recusal of the former trial judge, Justice Binta Nyako, from the case. It was gathered that the trial will resume tomorrow.

Reportedly, the Supreme Court had, among other decisions/verdicts in 2023, held that it was wrong to have revoked the bail earlier granted to the IPOB leader.

In a statement jointly signed by Dr. Sylvester Onyia, Dede Maxwell and Evans Nwankwo, the three Diaspora Igbo groups, therefore, urged Justice Omotosho to restore Kanu’s bail by virtue of Section 287(4) of the Nigerian Constitution.

They stressed that Section 287(4) of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, stated, inter alia, that “the decisions of the Supreme Court shall be enforced in any part of the federation by all authorities and persons, and by courts with subordinate jurisdiction to that of the Supreme Court.”

Holding that  Kanu is innocent of the charges for which he is being tried/prosecuted, the groups posited that even though the IPOB leader was renditioned from Kenya to Nigeria, the court’s order in his favour has not been obeyed or complied with.

They stated: “We are aware of Kanu’s extraordinary rendition from Kenya to Nigeria despite the fact he did not commit any offence.

“We are also aware of his unlawful detention in the Department of State Services (DSS) dungeon, and equally aware of various court judgments in his favour that have not been implemented.

“In July 2022, the United Nations Human Rights Council (through a landmark opinion issued by its working group), stated  that the appropriate remedy would be for the Government of Nigeria to release Kanu immediately, and accord him an enforceable right to compensation and other reparations by international law.”

They consequently remarked that a rapist cannot try his victim, neither would illegality be piled atop illegality and when the whole world is watching.

The groups argued that since courts of competent jurisdiction had acquitted Kanu, prosecuting him further would be irrational. The groups, therefore, urged President Bola Tinubu to do the needful and free Kanu in the interest of peace in the South-East.