By Wale Ishola
The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory on Thursday, October 13, 2022, upheld the appeal of the detained leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu.
The court also discharged and acquitted the embattled leader of the proscribed group.
Kanu had in his appeal dated April 29 and marked CA/ABJ/CR/625/2022 applied to be discharged and acquitted. Kanu was first arraigned on December 23, 2015, and was later granted bail on April 25, 2017.
However, the Court of Appeal on Thursday declared as illegal and unlawful, the abduction Kanu from Kenya to Nigeria and quashed the entire terrorism charges brought against him by the Federal Government.
The Appellate Court held that the Federal Government breached all local and international laws in the forceful rendition of Kanu to Nigeria thereby making the terrorism charges against him incompetent and unlawful.
The Appeal Court in a judgment by Justice Oludotun Adebola voided and set aside the charges by the Federal Government against Kanu.
The Appellate Court proceeded to discharge Kanu from the alleged offences.
Justice Adebola held that failure of Nigeria to follow due process by way of Extradition was fatal to the charges against Kanu.
The Appeal Court further held that the failure of the Federal Government to disclose where and when the alleged offences were committed was also fatal to the terrorism charges and made them liable to dismissal.
Reacting to the judgment, Kanu’s lawyer and human rights activist, Ifeanyi Ejiofor, on his Facebook page on Thursday, said Kanu won at last.
“Appeal allowed, Oyendu Mazi Nnamdi KANU, discharged and acquitted. We have won!” he wrote.
When contacted, the prosecuting counsel for the Federal Government, David Kaswe, told The PUNCH that he did not have anything to say about it.
“I don’t have anything to say about it. I am not the proper authority to speak on it,” he said.
