September 26, 2016
Press Release
THE NEED FOR HON.
JUSTICE JOHN TSOHO TO HANDS-OFF NNAMDI KANU’S CASE AND TURN-IN HIS RESIGNATION
TO PREVENT HIS UNAVOIDABLE DISMISSAL
The Hon. Justice John Terhemba Tsoho, born 24th of June
1959, must hands-off Nnamdi Kanu’s case as the trial Judge. In addition, he
must turn-in his resignation in order to prevent unavoidable dismissal by the
National Judicial Council (NJC). Already, the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN),
The Hon. Justice Mahmud Mohammed, has sounded a note of warning to Judges like
Hon. John Tsoho that they shall be punished for their judicial somersaults and
miscarriage of justice. Based on
available evidence and facts related to the ongoing court case involving the
leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, we believe that
the most honourable thing for Hon. Justice John Tsoho to do is to excuse
himself from the case as the trial Judge as well as turn-in his resignation to
avoid being axed for impropriety on the job.
We recall that on January 29, 2016, Hon. Justice John Tsoho
in his first ruling denied bail application made by Nnamdi Knau’s lawyers and
the denial was based on three frivolous reasons which were:
1) That Mazi
Nnamdi Kanu was a threat to national security.
2) That if
released, Nnamdi Kanu might commit the same offence again.
3) That
there was a probability that Nnamdi Kanu might jump bail because he possessed
dual citizenship.
On the 9th of February 2016, Hon. Justice John Tsoho ruled
that items belonging to Nnamdi Kanu should not be returned to him even when
such items were not listed as part of the exhibits in the case and this ruling
runs contrary to sectio-10(7) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act
(ACJA) of 2015. Part of the items being requested to be released to Nnamdi Kanu
were cash in sums of $2,200 & N87,000 and his two International passports
(British and Nigerian). We should also keep in mind that at this time, Nammdi
Kanu was already remanded in Kuje prison and we are wondering why Hon. Justice
John Tsoho will not release the non-listed items to someone in prison custody.
On the 19th of February 2016, the Hon. Justice John Tsoho in
his ruling, dismissed prayers by the DSS lawyer to hide the identities of
prosecution witnesses for which the DSS lawyer wants to enforce under section-232(3) of ACJA-2015. This ruling was
welcomed by all and seen as a sound judgment based on correct interpretations
of the law especially section-36(4) of the Constitution and section-232(4) of
ACJA-2015 which correctly specified and streamlined the conditions for which
section-232(3) should be applied.
Surprisingly on the 7th of March 2016, instead of the Hon.
Justice John Tsoho to apply section-351(1) of ACJA-2015 which specifies the
dismissal of the case for non-appearance of prosecution witnesses, he
unilaterally and without an appeal from DSS lawyer reversed his judgment of
February 19, 2016, thereby making it possible for DSS witnesses to testify with
masks or as masquerades. When questioned by the defense counsel as to why he
changed his mind without directing DSS to appeal to a superior court, the Hon.
Justice John Tsoho lied that he was merely clarifying his ruling when in actual
fact the said relief he was referring to never made mention of testifying
behind a screen. When the Hon. Justice John Tsoho realized that he lied in his
own court, he deliberately withheld the rulings because he knew he would be
exposed and that he cannot alter a judgement he pronounced publicly in a court
of law. We wonder what fellow 1984 University of Lagos law graduates will be
thinking of Justice Tsoho and his judicial acrobatics.
In the meantime, on the 9th of February 2016, Nnamdi Kanu’s
lawyers applied for Certified True Copy of Justice Tsoho’s judgment of January
29, 2016. Also, application for Certified True Copies of the last two rulings
mentioned above were made on the 8th day of March 2016. We would like to remind
everyone that in the Nigerian Constitution, section-36(7) allows only seven (7)
days for the Court to keep judgments/rulings after which the judgments/rulings
must be made available to the accused person.
However, it is on record that the Certified True Copies of the three
aforementioned rulings were made available to Nnamdi Kanu’s lawyers after a formal
complaint was sent to the office of the Hon. Chief Judge of the Federal High
Court. The formal compliant was sent on April 11, 2016 and the three Certified
True Copies were released to Nnamdi Kanu’s lawyers on April 25, 2016.
In other words the Certified True Copies were released:
(1) two months and fifteen days after the ruling of February
9, 2016,
(2) two months and six days after the ruling of February 19,
2016, and
(3) one month and 18 days after the ruling of March 7, 2016.
All of these are in contravention of section-36(b) and section-36(7) of the
Constitution of Nigeria. In addition, Justice Tsoho dismissed Nnamdi Kanu’s
application for stay of proceedings within 24 hours of obtaining the
excessively delayed documents mentioned above.
From the foregoings, it is crystal clear that the Hon.
Justice John Tsoho lacks the moral, ethical, and judicial burden to continue as the trial Judge on this
case. As a public officer identified in the Fifth Schedule Part-II(5) of the
Constitution, the Hon. John Tsoho has violated his Judicial Oath, he has
violated section-36(7) of the Constitution and he has violated the Fifth
Schedule Part-I(9) of the Constitution he swore to uphold at all times. We
therefore urge the Hon. John Tsoho to hands-off the case of Nnamdi Kanu and
immediately tender his resignation to the Hon. Chief Judge of the Federal High
Court in order to avoid his impending dismissal.
We call upon the Hon. Chief Judge of the Federal High Court
to transfer Nnamdi Kanu’s case to another Judge of the caliber of the sagacious
and fearless Hon. Justice A. F. A. Ademola so as to salvage what remains of the
battered image of the Nigerian Judiciary.
Mazi Nnamdi Kanu looks forward to battling the DSS in court
under an unbiased trial Judge and we are confident that victory shall be that
of Nnamdi Kanu’s.
Signed
Barrister Emma Nmezu
Dr. Clifford Chukwuemeka Iroanya
Spokespersons for IPOB
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