Breaking: The Nigerian Appeal Court upholds the judgment acquitting and expelling Kanu, the leader of IPOB

The ruling exonerating and freeing Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, was affirmed by the Appeal Court in Abuja, the capital of Nigeria.
On Monday, Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN), one of the attorneys for the separatist leader, claimed that the court reaffirmed its decision from October 13 that freed Kanu.

The Court of Appeal’s decision acquitting and freeing Kanu had been the subject of a stay of execution request by the Nigerian government.

Prior to his release, the Appeal Court freed Kanu and cleared him of the terrorist and treasonable felony charges brought against him.

However, the Nigerian government went to the Appeal Court on Monday and asked it to halt the application of the ruling from October 13 that invalidated Kanu’s exceptional extradition from Kenya to Nigeria.

A three-judge panel ruled that the extraordinary rendition of the appellant without following due process of law was a grave violation of all international conventions, treaties, protocols, and guidelines to which Nigeria is a party as well as a violation of the fundamental human rights of the appellant.

The appellate court further ruled that the government had not proven its case against the claim that the IPOB leader was in Kenya when he was kidnapped and returned to the nation without going through the extradition process.

The government was “ominously silent on the question,” according to the appellate court, which it described as being extremely important in assessing whether the trial court would still have jurisdiction to pursue the criminal case that was before it.

According to the judges of the appellate court, the Nigerian government’s actions tainted the entire process it started against Kanu and amounted to “an abuse of criminal prosecution in general.”

Therefore, the three-person judge made the following ruling: “The court will never hesitate to call the Executive to order when it tilts toward Executive irresponsibility.”

The administration was charged with “severe abuse of power.”