The Supreme Court has set December 15 as the date for its decision on an appeal seeking the release of Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the banned Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
The five-member panel, led by Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, set Thursday as the date for judgment after the federal government and the IPOB commander submitted their final arguments.
Kanu has been in the custody of the Department of State Services (DSS) since June 19, 2021, when he was extradited from Kenya. Following that, the federal government charged him with terrorism.
Binta Nyako, a federal high court judge in Abuja, dismissed eight of the fifteen charges of the accusation on April 8, 2022.
On October 13, 2022, the court of appeals overturned the remaining seven counts, and the judge ordered Kanu’s release.
Nonetheless, after the federal government filed an appeal with the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeals issued a stay of execution on its ruling exonerating Kanu on October 28, 2022.
Kanu then filed an appeal against the stay of execution order.
During Thursday’s proceedings, Kanu’s lawyer, Mike Ozekhome, asked the court to order his client’s immediate release and to impose a “very heavy and punitive cost” on the federal government.
Ozekhome said, “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.”
However, the federal government’s counsel, Tijjani Gazzali, asked the court to overturn the court of appeals’ decision ordering Kanu’s release.
Gazzali also asked the court to reopen his trial on terrorism-related allegations before the Federal High Court in Abuja.
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