Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), has accused Nigeria’s president, General Muhammadu Buhari is influencing the courts to convict him of treasonable felony.
The incarcerated leader of the new-age pro-Biafra movement, Kanu made this allegation through his lawyer, Ifeanyi Ejiofor, at a media briefing in Abuja on Wednesday, May 11, 2016.
Ejiofor said the president’s “pronouncement” on issues regarding Biafra was prejudicial, and that they were capable of forcing the hands of the court to convict his client.
He cited the president’s statements in Katsina, where he said that nobody could divide the country, and in his December presidential media chat, where he said that the IPOB leader should not be granted bail because he was a flight risk.
The counsel opined that Buhari was inadvertently compelling the court to do his bidding using his public pronouncements on his case.
“Nnamdi Kanu is a political prisoner, and this was confirmed in the presidential media chat,” he said.
“The pronouncements of the president is affecting the decision of the court. We consider the pronouncements prejudicial.
“The president should not be making pronouncements that are indirectly influencing the decision of the judges.”
Ejiofor added that he had filed a fundamental rights suit against the federal government at the ECOWAS court on the imprisonment of Kanu.
“We went to ECOWAS court because we believe we will be given justice. Only ECOWAS court can give us justice,” he said.
