THE leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, has written separately to the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) and President of the Court of Appeal, demanding the immediate listing and hearing of his pending cases challenging his life imprisonment sentence.
According to SaharaReporters, the demand was disclosed on Tuesday, August 18, by the Kanu’s family in a statement signed by Emmanuel Kanu, who accused the Nigerian government of showing no willingness to participate in the proceedings while Kanu remains in prison.
The family said Kanu was not asking the courts to rule in his favour, but simply wants the cases listed, heard and determined according to law, saying the situation raises questions about the contrasting speed with which the judiciary acted in October 2022 when the Federal Government sought to prevent him from regaining his freedom.
The family recalled that on October 13, 2022, the Court of Appeal discharged Kanu and quashed the criminal charges against him, but the Federal Government subsequently obtained a stay of execution on October 28, 2022, preventing Kanu from enjoying the benefit of the judgment.
It described the 14-day period between the appellate court judgment and the stay of execution as evidence of the urgency with which the judicial machinery moved when government sought to restrain Kanu’s liberty, wondering why similar urgency had not been demonstrated now that Kanu was asking the courts to determine the legality of his continued detention.
According to the family: “Fourteen days were enough for a differently constituted panel of a functus officio Court of Appeal to deploy civil procedure against an acquittal-equivalent discharge.
“Months cannot now be acceptable merely to list proceedings in which that same man’s liberty is at stake.”
It argued that the civil stay granted in October 2022 could not legally revive criminal charges that had already been quashed, insisting: “A civil stay is not a criminal charge. A civil stay is not a remand warrant. A civil stay does not revive quashed criminal counts.”
The case before the apex court commenced on November 7, last year, challenging the legality of the court’s December 15, 2023, remittal judgment.
The Nigerian government was served with the proceedings, but the family alleged that over nine months later, the government was yet to file a substantive response and the case had not been listed for hearing.
Kanu is also challenging his November 20, last year, conviction and life sentence before the appellate court.
His family lamented that while his Appellant’s Brief was filed on June 5, this year, and served on the Federal Government, the prescribed period for the government to file its Respondent’s Brief has expired without a filing.
The family said the appeal has also not been listed for hearing, describing the delay as unacceptable, particularly because the cases directly concern Kanu’s liberty, adding: “Mazi Nnamdi Kanu is not asking the Chief Justice of Nigeria or the President of the Court of Appeal to decide either case in his favour.
“He is asking that the cases be placed before the appropriate panels and heard. Nothing more, nothing less.
“If the Federal Government believes the Supreme Court remittal was lawful, let it appear and defend it.
If it believes the conviction and life sentence are lawful, let it file its papers and defend them.
“But silence and delay cannot become substitutes for adjudication.”
The family also announced plans to formally notify the United States (US) Congress; the Israeli Knesset and International Bar Association (IBA) about what it described as an “unacceptable delay.”
It disclosed that court records and chronology of the proceedings would be presented to the international bodies and it intends to ask the bodies to consider why Nigeria’s appellate courts were able to act within 14 days when the Nigerian government sought to prevent Kanu’s release, but had allegedly failed to show comparable urgency when Kanu sought judicial determination of his continued detention and life sentence.
The family urged the apex court to immediately list and hear Kanu’s case challenging the December 15, 2023, remittal judgment, and the appellate court to list and hear his appeal against his conviction and life sentence without further delay.
The family called on the Federal Government to appear before the courts and defend the legal basis for Kanu’s continued detention, noting: “We ask for no favour. We ask for no predetermined judgment.
“We ask only that liberty receive at least the same judicial urgency previously given to its restraint.
“Fourteen days to act against his freedom, months of delay when he seeks freedom. Explain the difference.
“List the cases. Hear them. Decide on them.”
