President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration has stated that it cannot comply with a court judgement ordering the release of Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), because he poses a national security risk.
The government told the Abuja Appeal Court that Kanu was a flight risk and a threat to national security.
The court was advised by David Kaswe, an Assistant State Counsel in the office of the Attorney-General of the Federation, that the case against Kanu was of national security concern.
He suggested that the IPOB leader’s fundamental rights should be suspended in the sake of national security.
Kaswe said: “It is important to appreciate the gamut of depositions in our application. The Respondent is a flight risk person and one of the grounds of our application is that this matter touches on national security of the State.
“Once there is a threat to national security, human rights of any individual can be suspended until such threat is taken care of.”
Kaswe also informed the court that releasing Kanu would worsen the security situation in the South East.
“The defendant has shown that he has the capacity to jump bail or to escape from lawful custody.
“There is reasonable intelligence that the enforcement of judgement of this court, pending determination of our appeal at the Supreme Court, may impact negatively on the declining security in the South East,” he said.
Kanu was released and exonerated of all terrorist charges by the Appeal Court a few weeks ago.
The Federal Government has refused to release the IPOB leader notwithstanding the court’s order.
Kanu cannot be released because the AGF, Abubakar Malami, has intimated that new charges may be leveled against him.
Kanu has been imprisoned by the Department of State Services (DSS) since June 2021.
In Kenya, he was apprehended and subjected to extraordinary rendition.
Upon his return, the Federal Government arraigned him on terrorism-related accusations.
The IPOB leader was detained for the first time in 2017 as a result of his advocacy for Biafra’s independence.
Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court in Abuja granted him bail.
Kanu departed the country shortly after his release country to Europe where he continued his Biafra agitation.