The Court of Appeal in Abuja has dismissed an appeal filed by the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, ruling that it lacked merit and had become academic following his conviction for terrorism.
A three-member panel delivered the judgment on Friday, stating that Kanu’s claims of violations of his rights to human dignity, health care, and religion while in the custody of the Department of State Services (DSS) were no longer tenable after his life imprisonment sentence by the Federal High Court on November 20.
In the lead judgment, Justice Boloukuromo Ugo noted that Kanu’s lawyer, Maxwell Opara, confirmed that his client was being held at the Sokoto Correctional Centre. The court therefore could not grant the request to transfer Kanu from DSS custody to Kuje Prison. Justice Ugo added that Kanu had previously expressed a preference for prison custody, further negating the basis of his appeal.
The appeal challenged the July 3 judgment of Justice Taiwo Taiwo (now retired) of the Federal High Court, which had dismissed Kanu’s fundamental rights enforcement suit for failing to substantiate his claims. The Director-General of the DSS and the Attorney General of the Federation were listed as respondents in the case.
Kanu had been convicted on a seven-count terrorism charge by Justice James Omotosho, who held that the prosecution had proven its case and sentenced him to life imprisonment. The Court of Appeal has now officially struck out his subsequent appeal for lacking merit.
