Justice Chris Ezeh while ruling on a no-case submission made by Sir Ifeanyi Ejiofor, Esq. (KSC) on September 27, 2024, discharged and acquitted the defendants on the ground that the prosecution was unable to prove the alleged case of murder levelled against them.
Officials of the Nigerian Correctional Centre in Ebonyi State have been accused of overstepping their bound following their refusal to release 36 alleged members of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) despite three orders of the State High Court acquitting and discharging them.
Justice Chris Ezeh while ruling on a no-case submission made by Sir Ifeanyi Ejiofor, Esq. (KSC) on September 27, 2024, discharged and acquitted the defendants on the ground that the prosecution was unable to prove the alleged case of murder levelled against them.
The 36 defendants who fail from Ebonyi State were arrested in 2020 and have been detained since then. They were initially charged before the State High Court sitting in Abakaliki.
Upon the closure of the prosecution's case, the defence counsel filed a no-case submission which was predicated on the fact that the witnesses called by the prosecution were unable to prove the alleged case of murder levelled against them.
Despite that courts have ordered their release three times; the prison officials have refused to release the defendants on the ground that there is another charge pending against them before the Ikwo High Court.
Ejiofor said it is obvious that someone somewhere does not want the defendants to regain their freedom despite being repeatedly released by courts of competent jurisdiction.
He, therefore, called on Ebonyi State Governor, Francis Ogbonna Nwifuru, to invoke the constitutional powers and “stop the mockery of judicial process, which is capable of portraying the state in a very bad light before the civilized world”.
He urged Nwifuru, “whose administration obviously inherited this case, to prevail on his Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, to invoke the constitutional powers inherent in him,” to put a stop to the case.
He said, “It is disheartening to note that these innocent citizens who are all indigenes of Ebonyi state were arrested since 2020, and consequently detained on allegations of committing various offences, and more devastating to also state, that during this period of incarceration, now proceeding to four years plus, they have on three consecutive occasions, been effectively discharged and acquitted of all these unfounded allegations by Ebonyi State High Courts.
“Still, the State did not deem it proper to allow these innocent citizens who have been punished enough for crimes they never committed, to go home. We are of the optimistic view that the requisite but prompt intervention of His Excellency, will resolve this seeming mockery of democratic institutions.
“In conclusion, may I personally extend my sincere and deep appreciation to my noble colleagues in chambers; the dexterity and hard work of Udoka Nwanku, Esq., Chukwudi Nwancho, Esq, and other erudite colleagues who were always in court with me, in ensuring that we secure justice for these 36 innocent Biafrans.”
“Biafrans should be rest assured that we will not rest on oars until these innocent Biafrans who were, again, today, discharged and acquitted by the court, regain their total freedom,” Ejiofor added.