Legal consultant to Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Aloy Ejimakor, says they will appeal the Federal High Court ruling that sentenced the separatist to life imprisonment on Thursday.
Speaking with journalists shortly after Justice James Omotosho gave the ruling on Thursday, Ejimakor said: “What kind of precedent is being laid here? We are heading to the Court of Appeal.”
Justice Omotosho had sentenced Kanu to life imprisonment on counts one, four, five and six.
The court, sitting in Abuja, also imposed 20 years on count three and five years on count seven, with all sentences to run concurrently and without an option of a fine.
“The Court of Appeal is the only court in this country, or the next court in this country, that sits as a jury; we are going to approach justices there to check out what happened in court today.
“And we are pretty sure the justices will agree with us that today was the symbol of the travesty of justice that everybody has been suspecting.
“If the court of appeal disagrees with us, we head to the supreme court; Nnamdi Kanu is not going to stand convicted, he’s going to get overturned.
“This is the only day I have witnessed a man being convicted for mere pronouncements, just for what he said from his mouth, not what he did with his own hands.
“The verdict is not consistent with the evidence laid before the court; the sentence is overbroad, cruel and unusual.
“How can you convict a man for making a mere broadcast from a location that was never named, and he never tied that broadcast to any single incident of violence, or even someone slapping someone, not to talk of terrorism?”
However, senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and lead counsel for the federal government, Adegboyega Awomolo, said Kanu’s sentence indicated that no one is above the country’s law.
Awomolo thanked the judiciary for the verdict, noting that the judgement saved the country from the “claws” of the proscribed group.
“So, I congratulate Nigeria today for seeing the end of this, and let it be a warning: those who may think they are bigger than Nigeria—Nigeria is bigger than every one of us,” Awomolo said.
“The law is bigger than every one of us, and the law will take its course to deal with miscreants, to deal with terrorists, and to deal with criminals.
“You know, all of us are victims when we keep quiet; all of us are victims when we don’t do what we ought to do.
“Justice has been done and therefore Nigerians must one way or the other appreciate the judiciary.
“You remember just last Monday the president was saying that any time when Nigeria is in a big trouble or fix, the judiciary has always come to the aid to salvage Nigeria again.
“The judiciary has salvaged Nigeria from the claws, from the oppression of the proscribed IPOB.”
Earlier, the federal high court found the IPOB leader guilty on all seven counts filed against him by the federal government.
The judge held that the prosecution had successfully established every allegation against Kanu.
He noted that Kanu offered no credible defence and “deliberately refused” to challenge the evidence presented in court.
Omotosho described the IPOB leader as “a person who cannot be allowed to remain in the company of sane minds.”
He added that Kanu’s longstanding claim of being a freedom fighter could not excuse actions taken outside the bounds of the law.
According to the judge, Kanu pursued his agitation through “brutal force and terrorism”, an approach he said resulted in the “bloodshed of innocent citizens”.
