- Safiu Kehinde
The Federal Government’s prosecution counsel, Adegboyega Awomolo, has hailed the Abuja Federal High Court’s judgement sentencing the convicted leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, to life imprisonment.
Awomolo who had earlier called for a death sentence on Kanu expressed satisfaction with the ruling while congratulating Nigerians.
The FG’s counsel, in his address to newsmen after the ruling on Thursday, dismissed the ethnicity sentiments in the ruling.
He maintained that the security of the country must not be compromised on the basis of sentiments while noting that the law is bigger than anybody in the country.
“We all must be courageous enough to confront terrorism, criminality, and all sort of things.
“I know that political insinuations or perspectives will push to this pattern. I was in court in there when somebody was saying oh Yoruba o! o Hausa o! o Igbo!’
“We are all Nigerians. We must love one another. We must not compromise the security of the country on the basis of those primordial sentiments.
“I congratulate Nigeria today for seeing the end of this. And let this be a warning to those who may think they are bigger than Nigeria, the law is bigger than everyone of us. And law will take its course to deal with miscreants, to deal with terrorists, to deal with criminals.
“All of us are victims when we keep quiet. All of us are victims when we don’t do what we ought to do.” He said.
NPO Reported that Kanu bagged the life sentence following his conviction on the seven-count terrorism charge filed against him.
The Presiding judge, Justice James Omotosho, delivered the sentence after declaring Kanu guilty of all the counts contained in the charge.
While noting that the charge Kanu was convicted for attracts death penalty, Justice Omotosho declared that the penalty will be overturned, citing scriptural statements that harped on the need to temper justice with mercy.
The judge thereafter sentenced Kanu to life imprisonment over count one, four, five, and six of the charge.
On count three, Omotosho sentenced the IPOB leader to 20 years’ imprisonment while slamming a separate five years on him on count seven with no option of fine.
The judge ruled that the sentence must run concurrently and be served in a protective custody in any custodial centre across the country.