The Supreme Court of Nigeria, on Thursday, set December 15 as the date to deliver its judgment on the appeal seeking to compel the Federal Government to release Nnamdi Kanu, the embattled leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), from detention.
The Supreme Court of Nigeria, led by Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, scheduled the appeal for judgment after lawyers for both the federal government and the detained IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu, presented their final arguments.
The federal government was represented by a team of lawyers led by Mr. T. A. Gazzali, SAN, while Kanu’s legal team was led by a former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Kanu Agabi, SAN. However, Professor Mike Ozekhome, SAN, presented Kanu’s appeal to the court.
Ozekhome urged the court to order Kanu’s immediate release from detention and to award “very heavy and punitive cost” against FG.
“We urge my lords to uphold our Cross-Appeal in order to do substantial justice to this matter and to the Respondent who has been in detention since June 29, 2021, even after the lower court ordered his release and that he should never be prosecuted again on the same counts.”
“They are still holding him unconstitutionally. We pray my lords to deliver justice and use this case, just like in Ojukwu Vs State, to demonstrate that no man or government should be above the law,” Ozehkome, SAN, pleaded.
However, in his presentation, the Federal Government’s lawyer, Gazzali, SAN, implored the apex court to uphold the amended brief of argument he submitted on May 3, 2023.
He requested the court to grant the Federal Government’s appeal, overturn the Court of Appeal’s decision that ordered Kanu’s release, and instruct the continuation of his trial on terrorism charges before the Federal High Court in Abuja.
Gazzali, SAN, further urged the apex court to dismiss Kanu’s Cross-Appeal.
It is worth noting that the Court of Appeal in Abuja, in a judgment delivered on October 13, 2022, had ordered Kanu’s release from detention. In a unanimous decision by a three-member panel, the appellate court also dismissed the 15-count terrorism charge brought by the Federal Government against the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) before the Federal High Court in Abuja.
The court affirmed that the Federal Government blatantly disregarded established laws by forcibly bringing Kanu from Kenya to Nigeria for his trial’s continuation. This, it concluded, amounted to an arbitrary exercise of power, which stripped the trial court of its jurisdiction to proceed with Kanu’s case.
Nevertheless, unhappy with the verdict, the Federal Government escalated the matter to the Supreme Court. Additionally, it implored the appellate court to temporarily halt the implementation of the judgment until the resolution of its appeal.