Breaking : Nnamdi Kanu’s fate will be decided by the Supreme Court on December 15th
An appeal was filed today asking the Supreme Court to order the federal government to immediately release Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB.
After lawyers for both the Federal Government and the imprisoned IPOB leader adopted their final briefs of argument, a five-member panel of the apex court presided over by Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun gave the matter the green light for judgement, as reported by Vanguard.
The Supreme Court is scheduled to issue its ruling on this case on December 15, 2023.
Mr. T. A. Gazzali, SAN, Acting Director, Civil Appeals, Federal Ministry of Justice, led the team of lawyers representing the FG, while Mr. Kanu Agabi, SAN, former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, oversaw the team representing Kanu.
Kanu was represented by a team of lawyers led by Agabi, SAN, but it was Prof. Mike Ozehkome, SAN, who argued his case before the Supreme Court.
After asking the court to release his client immediately, Ozehkome, SAN, asked for “very heavy and punitive cost” to be awarded against FG.
Since the lower court ordered the Respondent’s release and that he never be prosecuted again on the same counts, “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.”
They continue to hold him in violation of the law. In a similar vein to Ojukwu v. State, Ozehkome, SAN pleaded, “We pray my lords to deliver justice and use this case to demonstrate that no man or government should be above the law.”
The FG’s attorney, Gazzali, SAN, argued that the Supreme Court should not throw out the amended brief of argument he filed on May 3, 2023.
He asked the court to hear the FG’s appeal, reverse the Court of Appeal’s decision to release Kanu, and retry him on terrorism charges at the Federal High Court in Abuja.
Attorney General Gazzali argued that the Supreme Court should reject Kanu’s Cross Appeal.
The Court of Appeal in Abuja had previously ordered Kanu’s release from detention in a judgement issued on October 13, 2022.
The appellate court’s three-judge panel reached a unanimous decision to overturn the 15 counts of terrorism against the detained IPOB leader that the Federal Government had filed in the Federal High Court in Abuja.
The court stated that it was convinced that FG had broken every law in the book by bringing Kanu back from Kenya against his will.
It ruled that the trial court lacked jurisdiction to continue with Kanu’s trial because of the Nigerian government’s use of power arbitrarily.
But FG wasn’t happy with the ruling, so they appealed all the way to the Supreme Court.
Furthermore, it successfully argued that the judgment’s execution should be stayed pending the outcome of its appeal.
