 – By ALOY EJIMAKOR
Lately, some individuals and civic groups have, in some show of support for Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, indicated that they will ‘monitor’ his trial. While it’s commendable that Kanu has attracted such avalanche of support across the spectrum, it’s important to make it clear that there’s not supposed to be any trial to monitor, not to talk of prosecuting him in the first place. Mazi Nnamdi Kanu cannot be tried on the basis of the infamous extraordinary rendition that saw him to Nigeria. If you truly support Kanu and rule of law is to oppose his prosecution.
To better understand how Kanu ended up in Nigeria and why he’s not supposed to face trial, you need to juxtapose it to what happened to Umaru Dikko in 1984 and its fallouts. Dikko’s kidnapping was, like this one of Kanu, a brazen act of attempted extraordinary rendition, which – by the way – is a grave State crime under the canons of international law that bind Nigeria as a bonafide member of comity or nations. When it happens, dire consequences must ensue and one of them is this: By the dint of such egregious misconduct, the complicit rogue State permanently loses its prosecutorial power over the victim of the rendition.
Though the kidnapping of Dikko failed, it brought the following consequences: Britain swiftly arrested several suspects, four were convicted and they served years in prison. Britain expelled the Nigerian High Commissioner and broke diplomatic relations with Nigeria for 2 years. And most tellingly, Nigeria’s subsequent requests to Britain to extradite Dikko and others were summarily denied. As regards Kanu, Nigeria has, by her own hands, lost its jurisdiction to subject him to trial. In other words, no valid prosecutorial action can proceed from such a manifestly criminal conduct by a State. So, when you say you will be monitoring Kanu’s trial or that you want a fair trial for him, you are unwittingly buying into a grievous State crime that should shock your conscience, like it shocked the conscience of the several international tribunals that have condemned what happened to Kanu.
Now, you have seen why you must oppose Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s continued prosecution/detention and join the train (for his freedom) before it leaves the station to Aso Rock for #MNKOct20.
