The banned Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), yesterday, confirmed that its leader, Nnamdi Kanu had approached the Supreme Court to set aside the ruling of the Court of Appeal staying the execution of the court’s judgment discharging him.
The lead lawyer to IPOB and human rights activist, Ifeanyi Ejiofor, said this in an issued statement, yesterday.
Recall that the appellate court had on Oct. 13, freed Kanu of the terrorism and treasonable felony charges preferred against him by the Federal Government. The three-member panel had, in the judgment, set aside the judgment of the Federal High Court, Abuja, which quashed eight out of the 15 counts of the charge preferred against Kanu.
In the unanimous judgment delivered by the Appeal Court, it declared as illegal and unlawful the abduction of Kanu from Kenya to Nigeria. The Court subsequently quashed the entire seven charges retained by the trial court against Kanu on the grounds that the Federal Government breached all local and international laws in his forceful extradition to Nigeria, thereby making the terrorism charges against him incompetent and unlawful.
The Federal Government applied for a stay of execution order, urging the court not to release Kanu as he was seen as a flight risk and security threat to the country. The court granted the federal government’s application for stay of judgment discharging Kanu, of terrorism charge.
But Kanu, in court papers filed against the judgment, said the court erred in law when it proceeded to hear and determine an application for stay of execution of judgment in a criminal appeal, and thereby occasioned a miscarriage of justice. He sought for an order restoring the efficacy of the judgment of the Court of appeal, which, he noted, has not in any way been set aside by a higher court.
The lead lawyer to IPOB, Ifeanyi Ejiofor, also confirmed that Kanu has lodged an appeal against the stay of execution granted by the appeal court against its own judgment.
No date has been fixed for hearing in Kanu’s appeal.
