Legal practitioner and African Democratic Congress (ADC) chieftain, Kenneth Okonkwo, has renewed calls for the release of the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, who has been in the custody of the Department of State Services (DSS) since June 2021.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Monday, Okonkwo decried Kanu’s prolonged detention, describing it as a failure in the dispensation of justice. He urged the Federal Government to adopt a political solution to resolve the matter.
“A nation that detains a human being for more than seven years without reaching a judgment on his culpability is failing in the dispensation of justice,” Okonkwo said. “Justice delayed is justice denied. The Constitution clearly states that an accused person should be tried within a reasonable time.”
The actor-turned-lawyer argued that the continued detention of the IPOB leader violates his constitutional rights under Section 36, which presumes every Nigerian innocent until proven guilty.
“In Nnamdi Kanu’s case, the legal process has been abused. It is unreasonable to keep a man in custody for nearly seven years without conclusion of trial,” he said. “If you cannot find anything against him, release him or reach a political solution.”
Kanu, who was re-arrested and brought back to Nigeria in 2021 after fleeing the country in 2017, has remained in DSS custody despite several court orders for his release. Political and community leaders from the South-East, including Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives Benjamin Kalu, have repeatedly appealed to the Federal Government to free him in the interest of peace and national unity.
