The expected judgement on whether the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) would remain in detention or set free will be determined today by the supreme court.
As at the time of filing this report, the armed operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) have taken control of the apex court’s premises ahead of the highly anticipated judgment.
The roads leading to the court and the nearby Villa gate were sealed off by DSS personnel, preventing “unwanted” individuals to have access.
A five-member panel led by Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun had in October had fixed the date after counsel for both the Federal Government and the detained IPOB leader adopted their final briefs of argument.
Kanu’s counsel, Mike Ozehkome, who presented his appeal to the apex court panel prayedthe 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 FG’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.
The Nigerian government has banned IPOB as a terrorist organisation, accusing it of stoking ethnic tensions by claiming genocide against Igbos.
