IPOB: SSS releases Abaribe

Senator Eyinnaya Abaribe, arrested in connection with the disappearance of the leader of the outlawed Independent People of Biafra (IBOB), Nnamdi Kanu last week by the State Security Service, has been released. The senator, who was one of the sureties for the IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu, had appeared in court yesterday but was denied bail by the court, despite request for same by his lawyer.
Members of the Abia State House of Assembly as well as some IPOB members yesterday demanded the release of Abaribe, describing his arrest as illegal.
Kanu’s lawyer, Efeanyi Ejiofor, confirmed the release of the senator yesterday evening. “The senator has been released,” Ejiofor said in a phone conversation yesterday evening.
It will be recalled that Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court, Abuja, had earlier yesterday, turned down a request for the release of the Senator representing Abia North. Abaribe, a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), is one of the sureties for the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamidi Kanu, when the embattled IPOB leader was granted bail in April 2017.
Kanu has been missing since September 2017, but his lawyer, Ifeanyi Ejiofor, alleged that the Nigerian Army kidnapped him; the allegation was denied by the army.
Following his disappearance, the trial judge ordered all the sureties, including Abaribe, to “produce Kanu or go to jail.” However, on June 22, Abaribe was arrested by security operatives for alleged links with the IPOB members.
His lawyer, Ejiofor, asked the court to order the federal government to release Abaribe, describing his arrest as “illegal and unconstitutional.” However, in a ruling, Justice Nyako said she could not give the order for the senator’s release because she was not the one who ordered his arrest. According to her, the circumstances that resulted in Abaribe’s recent arrest were not before him.
The Judge also expressed dissatisfaction with counsel on both sides about their manner of handling the case and told them she would not mind prolonging the matter, if they themselves were not serious about carrying it forward.
Abaribe, who was escorted to the court by security operatives, was prevented from talking to journalists. Blueprint also learnt that an Igbo group, Voice from the East (VEAST), had similarly called on the federal government to release Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe.
According to the group that embarked on a peaceful protest in Enugu over the Senator’s ordeal yesterday, Abaribe was not responsible for the disappearance of the IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu and should not be wasted or killed in detention.
Convener of the group, Comrade Kindness Jonah, who addressed journalists during the demonstration, said: “We are demonstrating in the streets of Enugu to tell the federal government to release Sen.
Abaribe immediately and unconditionally

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