Nnamdi Kanu appeals ruling against preliminary objection to court’s jurisdiction

Nnamdi Kanu, the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), has appealed a ruling of a federal high court in Abuja against his objection to the jurisdiction of the court to subject him to trial.

In the notice of appeal filed before the Abuja court of appeal on Tuesday, Aloy Ejimakor, Kanu’s counsel, argued that Binta Nyako, the trial judge, erred in law by failing to consider the issues in his preliminary objection on their merit.

The lawyer said the judge erred when she ruled that ‘the main issue is that, if the defendant has a problem with the counts of charge retained, the option open is appeal”.

“As a matter of trite law, the appellant can only exercise the option of appeal after the trial court has pronounced a ruling on the instant preliminary objection, not before,” Ejimakor said.

“It is markedly strange in our jurisprudence to suggest (as the trial court did) that the appeal of the said seven (7) counts (remitted from the supreme court) should precede or take the place of the instant preliminary objection raised before the court below.

“Thus, the appellant cannot be expected to proceed on appeal over the validity or otherwise of the counts when the issues had never been raised and ruled upon by the trial court.”

In the appeal notice, Ejimakor also emphasised that the issues raised in the preliminary objection are different from previous jurisdictional ones raised by the defendant.

“The previous jurisdictional issues raised by the appellant against the erstwhile 15 counts and which were decided by the supreme court was on the basis of the extraordinary rendition of the appellant and other grounds not raised in the preliminary objection that is the subject of this appeal,” the court document reads.

“The supreme court in its decision, never foreclosed the appellant from raising other jurisdiction issues affecting the retained counts/charges; instead, the supreme court had in fact contemplated (or pre-exempted from its judgment) further objections to the jurisdiction of the trial court.”

BACKGROUND

In 2017, the court granted Kanu bail on the treasonable felony charges filed against him by the federal government.

However, the court revoked the bail and issued a bench warrant for his arrest after he failed to present himself as required.

The IPOB leader was rearrested in Kenya in 2021 and extradited to Nigeria after being on the run for a few years.

In April 2022, Nyako struck out eight of the 15 counts in the charge.

On October 13, 2022, the court of appeal quashed the remaining seven counts while the judge ordered 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.

On December 15, 2023, a five-member panel of the apex court reversed the verdict of the appeal court and ordered Kanu to resume his trial before the federal high court.

On May 20, the judge refused a fresh bail application filed by Kanu, which prompted the IPOB leader to file a preliminary objection against the charge.

Kanu argued that the law upon which counts 1,2,3, 4,5 and 8 of the charges are predicated is “unconstitutional” and “has been repealed”.

He also argued that some of the counts were “not supported by proof of evidence and were otherwise an abuse of process”.

Kanu noted that the prosecution failed to state the place of commission of the alleged offences and the specific dates of the broadcasts alleged in counts 1,2,4,5 and 8 of the charge.