- Safiu Kehinde
Aloy Ejimakor, the legal counsel to convicted leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, has expressed his displeasure with the Abuja Federal High Court ruling over the IPOB leaders’ terrorism trial.
NPO Reported that the court had, in the ruling delivered on Thursday by Justice James Omotosho, sentenced Kanu to life imprisonment after declaring him guilty of all the seven counts contained in the terrorism charge filed against him.
Omotosho had in his ruling also declared Kanu a terrorist after convicting the IPOB leader.
Addressing newsmen after the judgement, Ejimakor faulted the ruling of the court, alleging that Kanu was convicted over words of mouth.
The legal practitioner described the sentencing as cruel, overboard, and unusual.
“Today will forever live in infamy. Today is the only day I have witnessed a man being convicted for what he says 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 overboard, cruel, and unusual. How can you convict a man for making a mere broadcast from a location that was never names and he never tied that broadcast to any single incident of violence or insulting someone, not to talk of terrorism.” He said.
Ejimakor vowed to challenge the court’s ruling as he alleged that Kanu was sentenced because he is Igbo.
He held that the IPOB leader is not a terrorist as declared by the court.
“I don’t know where the whole verdict can be grounded in logic or fact. We disagree with the judgement vehemently and we are going to fight it from here onward until justice is done.
“The judgement is not based on law and facts. It is based on politics, some tribal primordial sentiments just because Mazi Nnamdi Kanu is Igbo.
“An Igbo man has become the person in Nigeria that should be trampled upon? I’m not saying it because I’m Igbo. I’m saying because of Hausa and Yoruba who gets trampled upon.
“But today we saw an Igbo man being trampled upon. But by God Almighty, we are not going to allow it.
“Nobody is going to trample on me. Nobody is going to trample on Mazi Nnamdi Kanu. He is not a terrorist. He is a man that was pursuing change. To pursue a separate nation of yours is not a crime.” Ejimakor added.