The Supreme Court of Nigeria on December 15, 2023 overturned the Appeal Court’s finding, which had previously cleared the proscribed Indigenous People Of Biafra (IPOB) of the terrorism accusations brought against him by the Federal Government.
The apex court determined that proscribed group’s leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu should be tried in the appropriate court.
Kanunta Kanu, the Kanu family’s head, said in a statement that the Supreme Court’s refusal to disclose the CTC jeopardised the family’s ability to pursue additional legal action.
Kanu stated that the family’s meticulous inquiries found that the top court justices who presided over the case had failed to sign the judgement, more than four weeks after it was handed.
He wondered why the justices of the Supreme Court who sat on their son’s matter would allow the normal 14 days to elapse without signing the judgment.
The Kanu family said it smelled a rat in the whole delay, adding that unlawfully withholding of the CTC in the case of the IPOB leader shows Nigeria cannot obey her treaty obligations which he said amounted to official terrorism.
“Unlawfully withholding the CTC in the case of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, has confirmed that Nigeria will not obey her treaty obligations,” he said.
“These justices, the presidency, and the Nigerian entity are officially terrorists according to the laws of Nigeria.”
Quoting Section 2 (3)(f) of the Terrorism (Prevention & Prohibition) Act, 2022, Kanu said, “In this Act “act of terrorism” means an act wilfully performed with the intention of furthering an ideology, whether political, religious, racial, or ethnic and which violates the provisions of any international treaty or resolution to which Nigeria is a party, subject to the provisions of section 12 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999; and Cap C23, LFN 2004.”
The family urged the Supreme Court to release the CTC of Kanu’s case to enable her to shop for other options.