Lawyer replies Malami: No pending charges against Kanu

The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), should comply with the order of the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal to consider voluntary resignation for exposing the Federal Government to international embarrassment and ridicule, Ifeanyi Ejiofor, lawyer to the leader of Indigenous People of Biafra, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, said on Friday.

He was responding to the statement by the Special Assistant (Media and Public Relations) to the AGF, Dr. Umar Gwandu, in reaction to the Appeal Court judgment, which freed Kanu and quashed the charges of terrorism against him.

According to him, the reference by the AGF to the charge pending against Kanu before he left Nigeria in 2017 and the indication that the Federal Government may continue with the charge showed Malami’s total disconnect with the law, with the greatest respect to his office.

Malami had said that the Federal Government was considering the options, including proceeding only with the pending counts against Onyendu Mazi Nnamdi Kanu before the invasion of his house on September 14, 2017.

But Ejiofor said the AGF “should be appropriately guided in law.”

He said, “I implore him to meticulously read the full judgment of the Court of Appeal, immediately comply with orders made therein and possibly consider the most appropriate option of voluntarily resigning, for exposing the Federal Government to this international embarrassment and ridicule.

“Now, for the avoidance of doubt, the Federal Government has no options. It has only one option, namely, to appeal against the judgment of the Court of Appeal to the Supreme Court. And the exercise of this later option shall not constitute a bar to immediate compliance with the order of the Court of Appeal, which directed for the immediate and unconditional release of Onyendu Mazi Nnamdi Kanu. Punch