The Court of Appeal in Abuja has struck out the appeal by the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, who has been convicted of terrorism, on the grounds that it lacked merit and had become academic, following his conviction for terrorism offences by a Federal High Court in a judgment on November 20.
Delivering judgment, a three-member panel of the appellate court found that Kanu’s claim that his fundamental rights to human dignity, right to quality health care, and religion, were being breached by his continued detention in the facility of the Department of State Services (DSS), was no longer feasible since his conviction, life imprisonment sentence, and remand in prison custody.
In the lead judgment, Justice Boloukuromo Ugo, held that the substance of the case has become academic because Kanu’s lawyer (Maxwell Opara) confirmed at the day’s proceeding, that his client was being held in Sokoto prison, subsequently, the court could no longer order him to be moved to Kuje prison to which he had sought to be relocated to, from the DSS custody.
Justice Ugo further held that, having earlier exhibited a preference for prison custody, the court could no longer grant his prayers since he had been convicted and sent to the prison where he had wanted to be kept.
The judgment was on Kanu’s appeal against the July 3 judgment by Justice Taiwo Taiwo of the Federal High Court in Abuja (now retired), which earlier dismissed his fundamental rights enforcement suit on the grounds that he failed to prove his case.
This comes a week after the court convicted the separatist leader of terrorism, ending a decade-long trial that has inflamed tensions in the South-East.
Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court in Abuja sentenced the self-acclaimed leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, to life imprisonment for terrorism.
