The Anambra State Lawyers in Defence of Democracy [ASLADD] have come down very heavily on Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and his IPOB for attempting to affix culpability on it for the crises that occured at Ekwulobia, Aguata Local Government Area where the Nigerian Police reportedly had a clash with the IPOB who were said to be awaiting the arrival of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu for a rally scheduled to hold in the town. Below is the press release by ASLADD as made available to odogwublog in Awka today:
EKWULOBIA CRISES: IPOB IS CONFUSING APPLES WITH ORANGES
The attention of the Anambra State Lawyers in Defence of Democracy [ASLADD] has been drawn to a statement released by Emma Powerful for the IPOB on the clash that was reported to have occurred between the Nigerian Police and some IPOB members at Ekwulobia, Aguata Local Government Area of Anambra State. In the said press release, the author labored strenuously to share the culpability of the crises between the DPO of Ekwulobia Police Station and “individuals hiding under non-existent Anambra Lawyers”.
We start by saying that the Anambra State Lawyers in Defence of Democracy [ASLADD] is composed of eminent Legal Practitioners from Anambra State who practice both within and outside the shores of the state. Without mincing words, the foremost consideration that propelled the coming together of these fine minds is to robustly protect democracy in Anambra State which has come under a massive threat by the extra-legal and anarchist method introduced by Mazi Nnamdi Kanu in his push to carve out an imaginary fiefdom for himself where delusively he would be presiding over his serfs like a feudal emperor who must not be opposed by his subjects without fatal consequences.
It is rather ridiculous that the author of the IPOB statement claimed that our group is both “faceless” and “non-existent” and yet he labored profusely to apportion blame and culpability to a “non-existent” group. This is purely an inverted logic. It is a matter of ordinary knowledge that lawyers in every society [by virtue of their professional calling and standing] are public figures. True indeed, the Convener of this august assembly is Mr. Johnmary Chukwukasi Jideobi. This is a gentleman committed to the defence of human rights, rule of law and constitutionalism. It is on record that our Convener stood tall and firm in robust defence of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu since he was arrested in 2015. As a matter of fact, it was our Convener who put up a pro-bono appearance with Mr. Vincent Obetta on the 17th day of December, 2015 before the Honourable Justice A.F.A. Ademola where the Mr. Nnamdi Kanu was granted bail for the 2nd time.
The records of proceedings in charge no: FHC/ABJ/383/2015 would reveal that our Convener has put up many pro-bono appearances in defence of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu before the Honourable Justices; A.F.A. Ademola, A.R. Mohammed and James Tsoho. Our Convener has equally on different occasions backed up his courtroom support with strongly-worded letters to President Muhammed Buhari, Chief John Oyegun, National President of the Nigerian Bar Association and the Honourable Attorney-General of the Federation urging them to see good reasons why the order of court granting Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, Rtd. Colonel Dasuki and El-Zakzaki bail ought to be respected in total obeisance to the dictates of rule of law and for the preservation of our constitutional democracy. These tons of letters are readily accessible as they were well published and documented at the offices of their recipients. This is quite apart from the numerous legal articles contributed by our Convener aimed at rallying the support of human rights activists to have Mazi Nnamdi Kanu freed from Kuje.
While still in prison, our Convener has had to visit and meet with Mazi Nnamdi Kanu on more than five different occasions all in a bid to strategize on how to use the instrumentality of the law to set him free from the gulag. What has our convener not done to have Mazi Nnamdi Kanu breathe the air of freedom he is enjoying today even at a great personal risk [even at a time when even the
