Following the continual detention of IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu, there has been reports that Aloy Ejimakor, Special Counsel to Kanu has stated that the release of his client lies in the hands of the executive arm of government headed by President Muhammadu Buhari.
This is coming after some respected Igbo elders, led by Minister of Aviation in the First Republic, Chief Mbazulike Amaechi, visited Buhari in Aso Rock in Abuja and requested the unconditional release of Kanu.
And in reaction to this, Buhari had stated that, “You’ve made an extremely difficult demand on me as leader of this country. The implication of your request is very serious. In the last six years, since I became President, nobody would say I have confronted or interfered in the work of the Judiciary.”
He added that, “When Kanu jumped bail, got arrested and was brought back to Nigeria, I said the best thing was to subject him to the system. Let him make his case in court, instead of giving very negative impressions of the country from outside. I will consider your demand, but it is a heavy one.”
However, Ejimakor has replied the president by quoting Section 174 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, noting that the Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malam, has the power to discontinue at any stage any criminal proceedings instituted by him before judgement is delivered.
According to reports, the lawyer, wrote in a tweet that, “Section 174 of the Constitution says: The Attorney General of the Federation shall have power to discontinue any criminal proceedings instituted by him.”
He added that, “The unconditional release of Nnamdi Kanu lies with the Executive, not the Judiciary.”
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