The Court of Appeal, Abuja Division, on Thursday, set free, the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu. However, in a swift reaction to the development Attorney General of the Federation , Abubakar Malami indicating that the government might appeal the judgement clarified that Kanu was only discharged and not acquitted by the Court.
The order to release Kanu was made in a judgement on an appeal by defence counsel seeking dismissal of the remaining 7-count charge filed against him by the Federal Government. Kanu was initially charged with 15 count charges, but 8 had previously been dropped.
By this, the Nigeria’s Appeal Court has dropped all charges against separatist leader Nnamdi Kanu after ruling that his extradition from Kenya had been illegal.
This ruling must have come as a shock to the government who had continuously justified Kanu’s detention based on various terrorism act leveled against him.
But the Court ruled that his arrest from Kenya was illegal because it did not comply with the extradition protocol.
Mr Kanu – who holds a UK passport – fled Nigeria in 2017 before he was seized and brought back in 2021.
He was originally arrested in 2015 but he fled Nigeria in 2017 while out on bail. He had previously denied any wrongdoing.
Reacting to Kanu’s release, the AGF, Malami said the appellate court only decided a single issue that borders on rendition.
The AGF said Kanu has other pre-rendition cases to answer.
Malami made the clarifications in a statement through his Special Assistant on Media and Public Relations, Dr. Umar Jibrilu Gwandu.
The statement said: “The Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice has received the news of the decision of the Court of Appeal concerning the trial of Nnamdi Kanu.
Nnamdi Kanu’s predicament started when the group he formed iIpob wanted a group of states in the south-east of the country, largely inhabited by members of the Igbo ethnic group, to break away from Nigeria and form an independent nation called Biafra.
In 1967 Igbo leaders declared independence for the state of Biafra, but after a civil war, which led to the deaths of up to a million people, the secessionist rebellion was defeated.
But the idea of Biafra has never gone away and despite the arrests of his members, Mr Kanu’s movement has seen a recent swell in its numbers.