Former Senate Minority Leader, Enyinnaya Abaribe, on Thursday, faulted the Federal Government over the life sentence slammed on Indigenous People of Biafra leader, Nnamdi Kanu, saying the outcome was long anticipated given earlier signals from the authorities.
This is just as he said that the development confirmed that justice in Nigeria is not for the South-East.
In a statement issued in Abuja by his media adviser, Uchenna Awom, the Abia South senator said the “preconceived plot” to jail Kanu for life did not come to the Igbo nation or “other right-thinking Nigerians” as a shock.
Abaribe recalled that the refusal of the Federal Government to consider pleas for amnesty for Kanu — similar to gestures extended to militants in the South-South and to terror suspects in the North — made Thursday’s judgment predictable.
“At the time the Federal Government refused to factor in pleadings to extend the amnesty to Nnamdi Kanu as done to some others, we knew that today’s outcome was imminent,” he said.
Describing the treatment of Kanu as a reflection of unequal justice, the senator said, “Is it not an irony that negotiations and peace deals with rampaging terrorists in the North-East, North-West were gleefully initiated just like the amnesty to ex-militants in the South-South? This is to say that justice in Nigeria is not for the South-East.”
Abaribe urged calm, noting that the matter now rests “squarely on the desk of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.”
“So we are not surprised; our people can only endure and hope for a time justice in Nigeria would become the sine qua non,” he said, adding, “We ask the Igbo nation and other lovers of Nigeria to remain calm, pray and not take the law into their hands.”
He concluded, “May Nigeria succeed, thrive and advance in justice, equity and fairness.”
The reaction came hours after Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court in Abuja sentenced Kanu to life imprisonment after finding him guilty on all seven terrorism charges.
The judge ruled that a death penalty was inappropriate, citing international concerns, and ordered that Kanu be held in a secure facility rather than Kuje Correctional Centre.
Prosecution counsel, Adegboyega Awomolo (SAN), welcomed the verdict, describing it as a resounding message that “no one is above the country’s laws.”
Speaking after the judgment, he said, “Let it be a warning that those who may think they are bigger than Nigeria. Nigeria is bigger than everyone of us. The law will take its course to deal with miscreants, terrorists, and criminals.”
Awomolo lauded the judiciary for “saving the country from the influence of the proscribed group,” adding that the verdict affirmed the President’s recent assertion that the judiciary often rescues the nation in difficult times.
Justice Omotosho imposed life imprisonment on counts one, two, four, five and six; 20 years without an option of fine on count three; and five years without an option of fine on count seven, with all sentences to run concurrently.
