Group demands Kanu’s release after one year in DSS custody

Civil rights advocacy group, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, has called for the release of detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, who has spent over a year in the custody of the Department of State Services.

The PUNCH reports that Kanu was arrested in Kenya and returned to Nigeria to resume his trial after he fled the country.

The group, in a statement signed by its National Coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko, stated that Kanu’s prolonged detention was illegal and against the rule of law.

HURIWA alleged that the Federal Government planned to detain the IPOB leader for a longer period without a fair trial.

Onwubiko said, “The prolonged illegal kidnap and unending detention of Nnamdi Kanu, in spite of the fact that he is only an accused person, is against the rule of law and principle of presumption of innocence.

“However, the Federal Government has hijacked the judiciary and is plotting to detain him even with no fair trial even one year after his extraordinary rendition to Nigeria.”

In May, Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court Abuja struck out eight of the 15 terrorism and felony charges preferred by the Federal Government against Kanu. Punch