Lawyer: Nnamdi Kanu unhappy over ‘unusual delay’ in transmission of his case files

Aloy Ejimakor, special counsel to Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), says his client is unhappy over the “strange delay” in the transmission of his case files to the federal high court.

Ejimakor said Kanu’s lawyers are yet to receive the certified true copy (CTC) of the judgment of the supreme court delivered on December 15, 2023.

BACKGROUND

On December 15, 2023, the supreme court ordered the continuation of the “terrorism” trial against the detained IPOB leader.

Kanu has been in the custody of the Department of State Services (DSS) since he was extradited from Kenya on June 19, 2021.

After the extradition, the federal government filed terrorism charges against Kanu.

In April 2022, Binta Nyako, a federal high court judge in Abuja, struck out eight of the 15 counts in the charge.

The remaining seven counts were also quashed by the court of appeal on October 13, 2022, with the judge ordering Kanu’s release.

However, on October 28, 2022, the court of appeal granted a stay of execution on its verdict discharging Kanu, after the federal government filed an appeal at the supreme court.

But a five-member panel of the apex court reversed the verdict of the appeal court.

‘UNUSUAL, UNACCEPTABLE’

In a statement released on Monday, Ejimakor said the delay in transmission of Kanu’s case files from the supreme court to federal high court is “unusual and unacceptable”.

“During my routine visitation with Mazi Nnamdi Kanu today (8th January 2024) at the DSS in Abuja, our discussion centered mainly on the persisting failure of the supreme court to enrol its 15th December 2023 judgment on Kanu’s case and transmission of the case file to the federal high court, as ordered by the court on said 15th December,” the statement reads.

“This delay is unusual and thus unacceptable to Mazi Kanu and he strongly condemns it.

“In a case where Kanu has been in detention (for two and half years) and it is in public and judicial knowledge that he is grievously ill, one would expect that it should not take almost one month to certify the judgment and transmit the case file to the federal high court.”