Nigeria’s Supreme Court has fixed December 15 to deliver judgement on appeal seeking the release of the leader of the proscribed Indigenous People Of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu.
The five-member panel led by Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, fixed the date for judgement on Thursday, after counsels for the federal government and the IPOB leader adopted their final arguments.
Kanu has been in the custody of the Department of State Services (DSS) since he was extradited from Kenya on June 19, 2021.
The federal government then filed terrorism charges against him.
On April 8, 2022, a federal high court judge in Abuja, Binta Nyako, struck out eight of the 15 counts in charge.
Following this, the court of appeal quashed the remaining seven counts on October 13, 2022, with the judge ordering Kanu’s release.
Nevertheless, 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.
Kanu then appealed the order of the execution.
During proceedings on Thursday, Kanu’s lawyer, Mike Ozekhome, prayed to the court to order the immediate release of his client from detention and award “very heavy and punitive cost” against the federal government.
However, in his submission, the federal government’s counsel, Tijjani Gazzali, prayed to the court to set aside the judgement of the court of appeal which ordered Kanu’s release.
