Chief Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, a senior figure in the All Progressives Congress (APC), has criticised the recent judgment of the Federal High Court in Abuja, which sentenced the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, to life imprisonment.
Justice James Omotosho delivered the ruling despite an existing appeal questioning the court’s jurisdiction and Kanu’s controversial rendition from Kenya to Nigeria. Chief Eze argued that proceeding under such conditions fell short of legal standards.
The APC chieftain, who once served as Publicity Secretary of the defunct New Peoples Democratic Party (nPDP), said the court further erred by failing to acknowledge Kanu’s final written address — a document many observers believed would have addressed key irregularities in the trial.
The judgment day was not without drama, as Justice Omotosho allegedly denied Kanu the opportunity to make his final remarks before he was escorted out of the courtroom. The verdict was then read in his absence, a move Eze insists violates Section 36 of the 1999 Constitution, which guarantees fair hearing.
Describing the entire ruling as a “travesty of justice,” Eze contrasted Kanu’s sentence with that of Boko Haram co-founder Mamman Nur, who recently received a five-year jail term despite being linked to the deaths of thousands of innocent Nigerians.
He added that various extremist groups continue to unleash violence across the country, with little visible effort by authorities to curb their activities, raising further concerns about the fairness and consistency of Nigeria’s justice system.
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