THE Supreme Court will on Friday, December 15th deliver its judgement on the appeal seeking to compel the federal government to release the leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, from detention.
The apex court in October fixed the date after counsel for both the federal government and the detained IPOB leader adopted their final briefs of argument.
Chief Mike Ozehkome (SAN), who argued the appeal, prayed the court to not only order the immediate release of his client from detention but to equally award very heavy and punitive costs against the federal government.
In his submission, however, counsel to the federal government, Tijani Gazzali urged the apex court to uphold the amended brief of argument he filed on May 3, 2023.
He prayed the court to allow the federal government’s appeal, set aside the judgement of the Court of Appeal which ordered Kanu’s release, and order the resumption of his trial before the Federal High Court in Abuja on terrorism-related charges.
Gazzali further urged the apex court to dismiss Kanu’s cross-appeal.
On October 13, 2022, the Court of Appeal Abuja delivered a judgement ordering Kanu’s release from detention.
The court ruled that he was abducted, ill-treated, and “illegally moved” from Kenya to Nigeria to face treason and terrorism charges.
The judges dismissed the criminal case but Nigerian prosecutors have appealed and Kanu, who is in his mid-50s, remains in custody.
Kanu, a former London estate agent who also runs the outlawed Radio Biafra station, was first arrested in 2015 but jumped bail two years later, reappearing in the UK and Israel.