The Nigerian Police Force says any judicial pronouncement on Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), on account of the breach of his bail conditions will be swiftly enforced.
Jimoh Moshood, Force Public Relations Officer, said this in a chat with journalists on the activities of the IPOB group in the South East, adding that nobody is above the law.
The federal government had approached the federal high court in Abuja, asking for the revocation of the bail granted to Kanu since he has violated the conditions.
Kanu is currently under trial alongside three others on charges of treason. He was granted bail on health grounds on April 25 and among his bail conditions was that he was not to be seen in a group of more than 10 people, nor should he grant interviews.
But Kanu has been attending IPOB rallies, granting interviews to local and international media and, most recently, inaugurating what he called Biafran Secret Service (BSS).
Moshood confirmed that more riot policemen as well as personnel from other departments of the police have been deployed to the South-East, especially Anambra State, where the IPOB has threatened to prevent the forthcoming governorship election from holding.
“We have made additional deployments, particularly in Anambra State, because of the upcoming governorship election and also to other south-east and south-south states to ensure that IPOB did not actualise its threat of stopping the election,” he said.
“So also, any pronouncement from the court would be strictly enforced, irrespective of the persons involved. Nobody is above the law, so any court pronouncement would be enforced by the police.
“We are strictly monitoring the situation for any eventuality from the court, since there is an ongoing judicial process.
“We are not leaving anything to chance. We are to ensure there is law and order and any pronouncement from the court would be strictly enforced. We are watching the situation closely. We have made enough deployments and we are going to act appropriately.”
There are insinuations that Kanu has been placed under surveillance to prevent him from escaping should the court order his re-arrest, but Moshood would not confirm that.
He also refused to say exactly how many policemen that had been sent to the south-east, saying it was against the Force’s policy.
Meanwhile, the IPOB had released a statement last weekend in which it promised to resist any attempt to re-arrest its leader, Kanu.
The statement which was signed by Emma Powerful, the group’s spokesman read in part: “IPOB wishes to notify the public about the illegal and undemocratic moves by the Federal Government, led by President Muhammadu Buhari, to re-arrest our leader, who committed no crime known to the laws of the Nigerian state.
“Before Buhari decides to make a move to arrest our leader, he must first go to court to obtain an order or else it will be resisted by millions of IPOB members.”