South-East senators and politics of Nnamdi Kanu’s bail

 Leader of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, was last Tuesday granted bail by the Federal High Court in Abuja in what was described as stringent conditions. But his release on Friday showcases more than just drama. Group Politics Editor, Taiwo Adisa, reports.

On April 25, reprieve came the way of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mr Nnamdi Kanu, when the Abuja division of the Federal High Court granted him bail. He had been in government’s detention for at two years, having been denied bail on the orders of President Muhammadu Buhari.

The court, presided over by Justice Binta Nyako, granted him bail on health grounds but without some difficult conditions. Kanu was barred granting media interviews and being in company of more than 10 persons at a time. He was also to produce three sureties who would deposit N100 million bond each, land papers in Abuja and also a respected Jewish leader, since according to the Court, the accused had claimed that Judaism is his religion. Kanu’s co-accused, Onwudiwe Chidiebere, Banjamin Madubugwu and David Nwawuisi were however unlucky as their bail applications were rejected. They had been arraigned by the Federal Government last year on an 11-count charge including terrorism, treasonable felony and illegal possession of firearms.

Justice Nyako, who delivered a ruling on the bail application, said she was convinced that Kanu’s health conditions needed attention.

She said: “The first defendant, Nnamdi Kanu, has appealed to the court for bail based on health grounds and it is only the living that can stand trial.

“So I am minded to grant him bail so that he can attend to his health and face his trial alive.”

The Judge stated that the sureties to be provided by Kanu should include a senior and highly placed individual of Igbo extraction and in the ranking of a Senator; a respected individual resident in Abuja with proof of ownership of landed property and a highly respected Jewish leader.

The presence in the court of Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose immediately sent political signals and further alerts the government of clear indications that the South was getting united on this front. Former Minister of Aviation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, who was to accompany Fayose to the courtroom, was barred by operatives of the Department of State Services. The governor said that he was on hand to show solidarity to the defendants in the face of what he called intimidation by the Nigerian authorities.

IPOB reacts

While reacting to the bail conditions granted the IPOB leader, the group in a statement described the conditions as “childish, political and funny.”

In a statement by its Publicity Secretary, Mr. Emma Powerful, IPOB said that the bail conditions were probably designed by politicians, as according to the group, those who drafted the conditions were afraid of the rising popularity of Kanu.

The statement reads in part: “The oppressors are afraid of our leader’s popularity and they hope to cage him through this funny bail condition.

“We are not excited about our leader’s release, we demand the release of our members detained alongside him. It is unacceptable to the entire members of IPOB worldwide that the presiding judge, Hon. Justice Binta Nyako attached conditions towards the release of our leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.

“We wonder why Justice Binta Nyako would prefer to attach conditions to his release.

“Again, Justice Binta Nyako refused to grant bail to Mazi Chidiebere Onwudiwe, Mazi Benjamin Madubugwu and David Nwawuisi, who have been detained with our leader for almost two years.”

Another controversy was immediately ignited by the statement credited to Kanu’s family, rejecting the bail conditions. The media immediately attributed the statement to Kanu and saw it as the rejection of the bail by the IPOB Leader.

Kanu’s father, Eze Israel Kanu, who is also the traditional ruler of Isiama Afaraukwu Umuahia, Abia State,  had been quoted in the media as rejecting the bail conditions, adding that his son should be freed unconditionally.

“The Federal Government should release my son unconditionally,” he was quoted as saying, adding that the world should determine if the bail “conditions are proper.”

His wife, Ugoeze Sally, also faulted the conditions attached to Kanu’s bail.

How South-East senators perfected Kanu’s bail

But what looked an impossible task was reduced to size on Friday following the intervention of the Igbo Political class.

Investigations had confirmed that while the whole world had clamoured against the bail conditions, Senators of South East origin had gone to work and held a late night meeting on Wednesday to find the way out.

It emerged that Senators of the South East geopolitical zone perfected the bail conditions of the IPOB leader after the late night meeting at the home of the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu.

It was confirmed that the senators of South-East extraction came together to analyse the best way to tackle the bail conditions.

The meeting at Ekweremadu’s place according to sources in the polity affirmed the need to do everything possible to get Kanu out of Kuje Prisons where he was being held. The meeting, according to sources held at the Abuja residence of the Deputy Senate President had more than 10 Senators in attendance.

It was learnt that the senators resolved that every step necessary must be taken to get Kanu out of the prison by Friday April 28.

“We resolved that everything should be done to ensure his release from detention especially in view of the deteriorating health condition which was recognized by the court,” a lawmaker in attendance at the meeting said.

According to sources, the Senators first explored the possibility of getting the Senator representing Abia North, Kanu’s Senatorial District of origin to take up the bail conditions.  It however happened that Senator Theodore Orji, who represents the Senatorial District, was unavailable in Abuja.  The lot automatically falls on the Chairman of the South East Senate caucus, and Chairman of the Senate caucus of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe. Apart from representing Abia South, the hotbed of Biafran agitation, Abaribe is also the chairman of the South-East caucus in the red chamber.  The Senator immediately took up the challenge and kick started the process that would eventually see to Kanu gaining freedom on Friday, April 28.

Besides Abaribe, the Senators were also said to have fished out Chief Tochukwu Uchendu, an Abuja based businessman, who volunteered to deposit his land documents in line with the bail condition. The South East Senators again fished out an Igbo Jewish High Priest, Immanuel El-Shallom Oke-Ben Madu, who immediately volunteered to sign Kanu’s bail.

Information hit the town in the early hours of Friday that the trio of Abaribe, Uchendu and the Jewish High Priest were making their way to the premises of the Abuja Federal High Court to sign the bail bond.

The media was immediately awash with reports of Kanu’s impending bail.

But it was not until 5.30pm that Kanu  was eventually released from Kuje Prisons and driven to the premises of the Federal High Court. The three sureties who had signed some papers in the morning, had to return to the premises of the court later that Friday to finally sign Kanu’s release papers.

“Things happened very fast as the caucus gave no space for a prolonged process. Chairman, of South East Caucus, Senator Abaribe volunteered to stand surety for the IPOB leader.

“Senator Abaribe wholeheartedly welcomed the idea of him standing as surety for the detained IPOB leader and he immediately set machinery in motion to actualize the bail,” a source said.

It was also gathered that the caucus decided to contact the Jewish community in Abuja to fish out the Jewish leader who eventually complemented Senator Abaribe and Uchendu.

As soon as the preliminaries were sorted out, the Senator made contacts with the Prison authorities and the Federal High Court to indicate the readiness of the trio to endorse the bail bond, the source said, adding that after the initial endorsement of papers at about 10.30am on Friday, the trio returned to the premises of the Federal High Court at 5.30p.m to complete Kanu’s release.

The IPOB leader, who was driven from Kuje Prisons to the court by former Minister of Aviation Osita Chidoka, was eventually handed over to the sureties at 6.30pm.