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| How Nnamdi Kanu & Ors’ Case File Was Doctored & Polluted By DSS Using Some Hostile Nigerian Media Outfits |
Media & Marketplace Proliferation
& Pollution of the Case File: We had recently revealed a
grand conspiracy between President Muhammadu Buhari, his DSS and some hostile-media outfits
particularly the Nation Newspaper, Punch Newspaper, the Premium Times, the
Saharareporters and the TV Continental, etc; whereby the contents of the
referenced Case File were subjected to grave doctoring, manipulation
and media pollution. The doctoring of the Case File by DSS
was followed by seeming erasure of the original statements of the suspects and
insertion of fake third party statements; some of which now make bold headlines
in the hostile-media outfits under reference; all
designed to rubbish the judiciary and incite the public against Citizen Kanu
and ors; by projecting them in bad light and as common street
criminals.
Such malicious headlines
are: how Nnamdi Kanu was caught in a hotel room hibernating with a
young lady; Nnamdi Kanu apologizes to Buhari & ors; IPOB members bear
arms-says suspect; I was paid N150, 000 to install Radio Biafra mast,
etc. Interestingly, all the hostile-media outfits that
carried the malicious headlines copiously quoted the DSS and Nnamdi Kanu’s Case
File as their authoritative sources. Till date, Citizen Nnamdi Kanu and ors
have neither been arraigned nor their trials commenced in any court in Nigeria.
An attempt to arraign them for trial on 23rd December 2015 was
aborted when Citizen Kanu refused to take plea; citing rapacious flouting of
four previous court orders by the trios of President Muhammadu Buhari, the DSS
and the AGF; forcing the proposed trial judge to withdraw from the case and
hand over the Case File to the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court for
reassignment. It is 15 days today, yet the Case File is yet to be reassigned
and Citizen Nnamdi Kanu and ors are languishing in DSS custody amidst torture
and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatments or punishments.
Access to their lawyers and relatives
have been denied by DSS particularly since their last brief court appearance on
23rd December 2015. It is obvious they are being tortured to
die inside the DSS dungeon. The desperation of the Buhari’s chained democratic
government may most likely include murdering them in captivity and under
torture. In Criminal trials or proceedings, if not in all court proceedings,
all forms of reportorial preemptions and extra
judicial media reporting are not only prohibited, but also
judicially punishable. It is also judicially criminal to report or quote
judicial proceedings out of context, not to talk of misrepresentation of facts.
These judicial sledge hammers are geared towards ensuring the sanctity of three-traffic-way
of justice (justice to the defendants/accused; justice to the
plaintiffs/prosecutors; and justice to the society) and preservation of
integrity of the judiciary or the trial court/judge. It therefore surprises and
saddens us as why the Federal Government of Buhari, its DSS and hired hostile-media
outfits had chosen to embark on such highly abominable and anti
rule of law conducts.
Our further questions are: Why
had the Buhari’s democratically embattled government chosen to be a judge in
its own case? Where lies the important principles of hear the other side and
presumption of innocence until judicially pronounced guilty? Is it not entirely
correct to say that President Buhari has dangerously and impeachably allowed
his personal biases and chronic hatred of the people of the Southeast Zone
including Citizen Nnamdi Kanu to override his
supposedly public centered interest as President of Nigeria? Are these
desperate antics of the Buhari’s administration towards Citizen Nnamdi Kanu and
ors not clearly suggesting that Citizen Kanu and ors have no iota of case to
answer? Is it not a clear case of inferiority complex and pride for President
Buhari and his co-travelers in his chained democracy to refuse to throw in the
towel and come out remorsefully apologetic? Is President Buhari not aware that
by his Yorean and cave-era stance; he is steadily pushing Nigeria to the brink
and pro Biafran peaceful agitators to the wall? Where on earth has judicial
violence been successfully used to resolve ethnic nationality-home State
dispute? Does he realize the consequences that will befall Nigeria of his
chained democratic presidency if Citizen Nnamdi Kanu is physically or mentally
tortured to death inside the DSS dungeon?
Torture-Procured Statements of
Citizen Kanu & Ors: It is also our analytical finding that confessional
statements of Citizen Kanu and ors; apart from being doctored and
corrupted, are also torture-procured by the DSS. Apart
from torture, which is extreme infliction of physical and mental
pains on a suspect for the malicious purpose of obtaining confessional
statement from him or her to be used against him or her in criminal trial; othertriplet
sisters of torture: suggestibility, Reid and deception must have
been applied by the DSS in the so called interrogation (torture)
of Citizen Nnamdi Kanu & ors. In suggestibility method, malicious
sleep deprivation or exposure to continual loud noise is applied. In Reid
method, the malicious use of body language to
pin a suspect to alleged crime or force him or her to admit guilt is applied.
In deception method, the torturer extensively appliesdivide-and-rule,
offer of bribes, gratification, phony promises and falsehood techniques; and
hot-water and cold-water deceptive characteristics. These
interrogation methods are universally abhorred and classified as torture
and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatments or punishments. Nigerian
Courts also reject any confessional statement obtained under duress or torture.
Call for Discharge & Acquittal of
Citizen Kanu & Ors: Following grave damage and harm done to the
Case File of Citizen Nnamdi Kanu & Ors by the Federal Government particularly
its administrative corruption and present proliferation and pollution in market
places and hostile-media; it is a settled and incontestable fact
that any trial and conviction secured from the Case File is totally an
affliction of judicial violence and injustice on the
wrongly accused, arrested and detained Citizen Kanu and ors. A trial of
suspects that are already convicted and jailed by their accusers and their
conspiratorial hostile-media outfits is a clear case of making mockery of
justice and rule of law and should be thrown into a trash can if brought before
any trial court in Nigeria.
We therefore call upon the Chief
Justice of Nigeria, the National Judicial Council (NJC), the national
leadership of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) and the International Bar
Association (IBA) to take judicial and administrative notices of proliferation
and pollution by the DSS of the Case File of Citizen Nnamdi Kanu and ors in the
country’s market places and hostile-media establishments; particularly the
Punch, the Nation, the Premium Times, the Saharareporters and the TV
Continental; to the extent that pages of the doctored Case File are now
recklessly and abominably photocopied, posted and circulated by the likes of
Saharareporters on the internet; in the guise of scoop and exclusive
news reporting. To the extent that grave and irreparable damages
have been done to facts and materials of the doctored Case File and the
allegations; it is our considered and grounded position that Citizen Nnamdi and
ors haveno case to answer and ought to be freed, discharged
and acquitted.
The lawyers handling the matter on
behalf of Citizen Kanu and ors are also called upon not to waste time in
entering a no case submission as soon as the new judge
is assigned to the case. Following latest news reports of possible torturing of
Citizen Nnamdi Kanu and ors by DSS and their solitary confinement
and denial of access to their lawyers and relatives; we advise their lawyers to
file a fresh fundamental rights suit on right
to life; seeking for the unconditional release of Citizen Kanu and ors.
The Constitutional and statutory safeguards in Section 35 (4) (a) of the 1999
Constitution and Sections 296 (6) of the Administration of Criminal Justice
(ACJ) Act of 2015 should also be judicially invoked by their lawyers; having
been detained beyond time frames set by the Constitution and the ACJ Act of
2015 (60 days and 28 days respectively). To the extent that Citizen
Nnamdi Kanu’s ordeal has moved from prosecution to
persecution; and is now an international matter; his lawyers
should do more and be more proactive. This is because the tone of
music has changed; it now requires a combination of law,
politics and strategy. When evil men destroy momentarily,
good men must rebuild at all times!
Eight-Six (86) Days Detention of
Citizen Kanu without Unconditional/Conditional Freedom or Trial: Citizen
Nnamdi Kanu had been detained for a total of 86 days today without any form of
release from the DSS dungeon; having been arrested and detained by DSS since 14th October
2015. This is a combine and grave violation of Section 35 (4) (a) of the 1999
Constitution and Sections 293, 295 and 296 of the Administration of Criminal
Justice Act of 2015. Citizen Kanu is also being held without any court remand
in Nigeria; contrary to Section 293 (1) of the Administration Justice Act of
2015 which forbids any authority or person in Nigeria including President
Muhammadu Buhari from detaining any accused citizen for 24/48hrs without a
court remand.
Section 35 (4) (a) of the
Constitution, under right to personal liberty, also
forbids detention of any citizen accused of committing capital offense beyond
60 days without being tried or released on bail. Presently, Citizen Kanu is
on unconditional court release of the Federal High Court,
which President Buhari publicly admitted of observing in breach and as we
write, Citizen Nnamdi Kanu is under no other superior or concurrent
jurisdictional trial court remand in Nigeria. He is also not on trial in any
court in court till date.
Call for More Online Signatures to
Force Buhari to Obey Court Decisions & Rule of Law or Resign or Be
Impeached: Recall that a vibrant constitutional lawyer and Georgetown
University Law Scholar, Ms Carol Ajie had on 31st December 2015
launched an online signature advocacy campaign concerning the subject above
mentioned; preliminarily targeted at 1000 signatures to be submitted to
relevant national and international democratic forces and
institutions including President Barak Obama of USA. Though the target of 1000
signatures has since been met; hitting 2,997 online signatures as at last
24hrs; but there is need to give the target audience one more chance, before it
is formally declared achieved and moved to the next stage. We appeal to members
of the public with passion for defense and preservation of Nigeria’s constitutional
and pluralistic democracy, human rights and rule of law; to visit the online
link provided below and stand counted by signing the online petition. https://www.change.org/p/president-of-the-united-states-respect-court-orders-or-resign-president-buhari-2.
We thank Nigerians and members of the
international community for ignoring and disregarding the activities of
undemocratic forces and elements who are bent on pushing the country to the
brink by bending and gravely misinterpreting the laws and norms on account of
their personal interests and self aggrandizements. The continued
anarchic utterances of the likes of Profs Itse Sagay and Senator Ali Ndume
clearly represent an immortal statement that “when a professor compromises his
or her integrity, he or she becomes a professorial moron and irreparably loses
his or her professorial reasoning and sense of judgment”. We urge all to
steadily observe, record and document the publicly anarchic utterances of
these born again agents of dictatorship and anarchy and
use such to measure them in the nearest future particularly when they must have
exhausted their unholy alliance or marriage of the graveyard with
the current chained democratic government of Muhammadu Buhari.
Signed:
By
Southeast Based Coalition Of Human Rights Organizations (SBCHROs)
For: Coalition of Southeast Based
Human Rights Organizations (CSBHROs):
1. Emeka Umeagbalasi
(+23474090052
For: International Society for Civil
Liberties & the Rule of Law (Intersociety)
2. Comrade Aloysius
Attah (+2348035090548)
For: Anambra State Branch of the
Civil Liberties Organization (CLO)
3. Comrade Peter
Onyegiri (+2347036892777)
For: Center for Human Rights &
Peace Advocacy (CHRPA)
4. Comrade Samuel
Njoku (+2348039444628)
For: Human Rights Club (a project of
LRRDC)(HRC)
5. Justus Uche Ijeoma,
Esq.(+2348037114869)
For: Forum for Justice, Equity &
Defense of Human Rights (FJEDHR)
6. Comrade Chike Umeh
( +2348064869601)
For: Society Advocacy Watch Project
(SPAW)
7. Obianuju Joy
Igboeli, Esq. (+2348034186332)
For: Anambra Human Rights Forum
(AHRF)
8. Comrade Alex
Olisa(+2348034090410)
For: Southeast Good Governance Forum
(SGGF)
9. Jerry Chukwuokolo,
PhD (+2348035372962)
For: International Solidarity for
Peace & Human Rights Initiative (ITERSOLIDARITY)
10. Evlyn Chinwe Eze,
Esq. (+2347019646494)
For: Street Law Africa (LawAfrica)
11. Tochukwu Ezeoke
(IEI) (+447748612933)
For: Igbo Ekunie Initiative (pan Igbo
rights advocacy group)
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