The Federal Government’s lead counsel, Adegboyega Awomolo (SAN), has lauded the sentencing of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) leader, Nnamdi Kanu, to life imprisonment, describing the judgment as a strong affirmation that no individual is greater than the Nigerian state or its laws.
Speaking to journalists shortly after the verdict was delivered at the Federal High Court in Abuja on Thursday, Awomolo said the conviction on seven terrorism charges signaled a decisive moment in Nigeria’s judicial and security landscape.
“I congratulate Nigeria today for seeing the end of this, and let it be a warning: those who may think they are bigger than Nigeria — Nigeria is bigger than every one of us,” he said. “The law is bigger than every one of us, and the law will take its course to deal with miscreants, to deal with terrorists, to deal with criminals.”
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Awomolo expressed gratitude to the judiciary, saying the judgment had “saved the country from the claws” of the proscribed IPOB group. He referenced President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s remarks earlier in the week, noting that the judiciary had once again played a stabilizing role at a moment of national tension.
“You remember just last Monday the president was saying that any time when Nigeria is in a big trouble or fix, the judiciary has always come to the aid to salvage Nigeria again. The judiciary has salvaged Nigeria from the claws, from the oppression of the proscribed IPOB,” he said.