The joy that accompanied the supposed bail grated by the Federal high court may have been short lived. This is because of the bail conditions set by the federal courts today.
The Justice had set the bail conditions to be ridiculous and simply wicked. Justice Nyako in her ruling stated that the IPOB leader is expected to provide three sureties one of who must be a serving senator, a jewish religious leader and highly respected person and must own a land in anywhere in Abuja. She set the bail bond at N100 million for each surety.
She ordered that he should never grant any press interview pending the outcome of his trial, that he will not be in a gathering of more than 10 persons. The Judge said Kanu’s bail will be revoked if any of the orders are flouted.
These bail conditions are simply not realistic. It cages Nnamdi Kanu and potentially sets him up for an eventual lock up or harassment by the authorities should he decide to attend a Sunday church service or a Jewish service or a birthday get-together for his children or the funeral of a close family relative. It defies logic and threatens to put Nnamdi Kanu is a tighter corner.
Nnamdi should simply turn away from the bail conditions and continue with the trial from behind bars.
Go and sit down ojare! Why should he not accept the bail? Have you not heard that his health is deteriorating? Why do you want to make an Abiola out of him — Abiola was to be released but NADECO noise makers told him to reject the release unless it was tied to his being sworn-in as president. Is Abiola president today? Don’t you think that his survivors wish that he did not become president but remained alive?
This is a young man who has been unjustly incarcerated for over a year; who has not seen his wife and his newly born son, is in bad health, etc. and you are saying he should refuse the bail? Don’t you know that he stands a better chance of beating his case from the outside than from inside the prison? If he refused the bail but later got acquitted, would all the time and hardship he suffered in jail not have been for nothing?
Yes, he is a freedom fighter, but he must first be alive and healthy to fight any fight. His sitting in jail will erode his mind and jeopardize his fight, especially under the hardship of Nigerian prisons. He can better fight for his friends’ release from the outside than from inside the prison. I hope he does not listen to small minded people like you — the same small minded people who advised Ojukwu to reject anything and everything short of Biafra. In 1968, Ojukwu was willing to accept a return to the status quo ante, in other words, Eastern Region was to be restored and some degree of confederation installed in exchange for a pledging of loyalty to Nigeria. But folks like you threatened him and for that we lost everything till today. You aren’t doing that with Kanu.
Nnamdi Kanu must fight another day and for that to happen, he must be outside of prison and in good physical and mental health; he could not have those qualities if he remained incarcerated. He would be a fool to reject the bail, but he has never struck me as a fool.
The bail condition is extremely outrageous and may be harder to obtain than his justice under the law. Kanu has two options. One to appeal the heavy burden of the bail conditions to the supreme court. Two to ask his lawyers for accelerated hearing so he should know his ultimate fate sooner than later. I believe our laws are clear on both. Another is to have his medical doctor attend to him and certify his ability to stand trial under all circumstances. Let the law takes its course. Justice delayed is justice denied, Biafra or No Biafra does not come to this. Nze Asuzu Agwunobi