As the trial of Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, continues to linger, judges’ withdrawal from his case is raising concerns.
The Nigerian Government has been prosecuting Kanu since 2015.
He is standing trial for several charges ranging from treasonable felony to terrorism. In 2017, Justice Binta Nyako of an Abuja Federal High Court granted him bail in the sum of N100 million, but the IPOB leader absconded from Nigeria after the military allegedly invaded his residence in Afaraukwu, Abia State.
Kanu was, however, rearrested in July 2021 in Kenya and subjected to extraordinary rendition back to Nigeria where he was re-arraigned on charges bordering on terrorism.
In October 2022, the Court of Appeal in Abuja discharged and acquitted Kanu of all the 15 count charges, describing them as illegal and unlawful.
The Court held that the Federal Government breached all local and international laws by subjecting the Biafra agitator to extraordinary rendition from Kenya to Nigeria, a situation that makes the terrorism charges against him incompetent and unlawful.
