THE Supreme Court will on December 15 rule on the appeal seeking to compel the Federal Government to release embattled leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.
The Court of Appeal, Abuja Division, had on October 13, last year, ordered Kanu’s release in a unanimous decision by a three-member panel, while quashing the terrorism charges filed against him by the Federal Government.
But dissatisfied with the judgment, the Federal Government appealed the judgment at the apex court.
At the proceedings on Thursday, October 5, a five-member panel of the court, headed by Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, fixed the date for judgment, following the adoption of final briefs by the parties.
Kanu’s Lead Counsel, Dr. Mike Ozekhome (SAN), urged the court to not only order the immediate release of Kanu, but to also award a heavy punitive cost against the Federal Government for his detention, adding: “We urge My Lords to uphold our cross-appeal and do substantial justice to this matter in favour of the respondent, who has been in detention since June 29, 2021, even after the lower court ordered his release.
“My Lords should also order 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.”
But Counsel to the Federal Government, Tijani Ghazali (SAN), urged the court to set aside the judgment of the lower court that ordered Kanu’s release and to also order the resumption of Kanu’s trial before the Federal High Court in Abuja on terrorism-related charges.
