The Igbo National Movement has accused the current leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari of turning Nigeria into a pariah state known only for lawlessness and corruption.
The group in a statement signed by its president, Olisa Okolo and legal adviser, Eze Eluchie, on Monday also said that the country has continued to slide into a disappointing quagmire, both within and without, in its international relations.
The group also decried the ‘international interception’ of the leader of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu (MNK, noting that the Nigerian Federation is supposed to operate and be governed as a democratic state rooted in constitutionalism and the rule of law.
“ The Nigerian State therefore cannot be unmindful of how negatively it is being perceived by participating in the unlawful abduction of a British passport holder without recourse to legal avenues to which extradition is purposed.
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“By operating in manners unexpected of a territory governed under democratic precepts, this government puts itself at par with pariah states which consider illegality as an acceptable modus operandi in achieving its objectives,” it said.
It said the Presidency should clarify exactly how this abduction was carried out in international territory, outside jurisdiction of the Nigerian State in view of the multiplicity of accounts of the manner in which Mazi Kanu was ‘abducted.’
The statement read, “It cannot be lost to the Attorney-General that such unlawful arrest could vitiate any legal proceedings which emanate from it and paints Nigeria and its citizens in the least favourable light that can possibly be expected within a law-abiding international community.
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“In view of the above, it is impossible to expect that the accused in this case will be accorded anything remotely resembling a free, fair and public trial and we call for his immediate and unconditional release on legal principles and in accordance with our Criminal Procedure Act which limit powers of arrest and jurisdiction where such arrests may occur.
“ Considering that Mazi Kanu was brought into the country on Sunday preceding the conferences, as announced by the AGF, the failure of the Government to notify his Legal Representatives and his Family of the date for his arraignment almost 48 hours later, supposedly before a Federal High Court in Abuja, shows ill intent and already is a breach of the accused fundamental human rights.
“The trial by media which the Government and its agents have resorted to is nothing new, but will be more spectacular in its failure if it does not put on the table all the evidence it has to support the irresponsible accusations against Mazi Kanu in particular, and Ndigbo in general as it relates to the recent disturbances in the South East Igbo homelands, which resulted in the deaths of hundreds of Igbo nationals, blamed on Mazi Kanu himself and his adherents. Any failure to do so, may fuel theories of the Federal Government’s role in the murders of innocent citizens and the disturbances in the South East.
“ The Federal Government continues to drive the country towards a belief that it seeks to create an imbalance in favour of a particular ethnic nationality, by conducting such an important Press Conference on the capture of the accused, in addition to being in English, Nigeria’s official lingua franca, also in the Hausa language only, a language in the Northern region of Nigeria.
“ Irrespective of whatsoever the AGF might have uttered during the Hausa language session or his intentions behind it, the impression projected by the unprecedented use of the Hausa language to address the global media in a Press Conference where the Chief Law officer of the Federation and the Inspector General of Police, both of who are Hausa, were announcing the “international abduction” of an Igbo national, paints a picture that supports the conclusion that this is not a Nigerian issue, but an ethnic national agenda against another.
“True Nigerian nationals see through such orchestrated attempts to appeal to the sentiments of one ethnic nationality, and to set them against another. True Nigerians, only see Justice for what it is, and consequently see that this Government stands far apart from that perception of Justice which all reasonable men hold. For Justice does not need to seek empathy from tribe, and only presents things as they are or ought to be.
“Therefore, we the members of the Igbo National Movement, wish to advise the Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government of Nigeria, that it should not mistake the arrest of a single individual, as indicative of the ‘arrest’ of the ongoing nationwide clamour for Self-actualization, Restructuring and Renegotiation of the Nigeria Project by diverse indigenous national groups in the six geo-political regions of Nigeria. “
The group urged the Buhari-led administration to focus its energies on a wholesome response to the prevailing sources of instability and crisis in the country by hearkening to the calls from various constituent nationalities for self-determination.
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