December 15, 2023 NewsOrient
Law & Society/ News
By Samuel Egburonu, Editor

The Supreme Court today upheld the Federal Government’s appeal which challenged the verdict of the Court of Appeal that earlier dismissed the charges against the Leader of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.

Upholding the FGN’s appeal, the Apex Court, in a ruling delivered by Justice Emmanuel Agim, held that Kanu must face trial at the Federal High Court though he was illegally rendered from Kenya.

The Supreme Court, in the judgement reportedly prepared by Justice Garba Lawal, described the way the Federal Government of Nigeria arrested and brought Mazi Nnamdi Kanu back to Nigeria as ‘reckless’ and ‘illegal’ but ruled that such illegality should not divest the court from proceeding with the trial.

It would be recalled that after his extraordinary rendition from Kenya, in 2021, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu was arraigned before the Federal High Court in Abuja on four charges of “treasonable felony, conspiracy to commit treasonable felony, terrorism, illegal importation of radio equipment, and defamation of former President Muhammadu Buhari.”

It would also be recalled that the charges were later amended to 15 count charges bordering mainly on “terrorism and membership of a proscribed group.”

The trial court, in it’s ruling delivered by Justice Binta Nyako, had dismissed eight out of the 15 charges. She ruled that Mazi Nnamdi Kanu has “questions to answer in relation to the remaining seven charges.”

It was at this point that Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, through his lawyers, appealed to the Court of Appeal. The Appeal Court, in it’s ruling, had dismissed the remaining charges and ordered that Mazi Nnamdi Kanu be released.

However, before Kanu would be released, it was reported that the same Court of Appeal, in a sudden twist “granted a stay of execution of its judgment.”

It was alleged that the Appeal Court granted the stay of execution order when the Federal Government reportedly told the court it would appeal it’s ruling to the Supreme Court of Nigeria.

Now that the Apex Court has ordered trial at the Federal High Court, it seems the long drawn legal battle between the Federal Government of Nigeria and Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of IPOB, still has a long way to go.

~ NewsOrient