The Supreme Court sitting in Abuja, on Thursday, has adjourned hearing in the suit filed by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) for the release of their leader, Nnamdi Kanu, to September 14, 2023.
The matter was adjourned following the appeal by Kanu and IPOB.
Ifeanyi Ejiofor, human rights activist and lead lawyer for IPOB, said he has filed an appeal against the Appeal Court ruling, with the hope that both appeals would be heard with speed.
IPOB is asking the Supreme Court to set aside the previous ruling of the Court of Appeal which granted a stay of execution of a court judgment discharging Kanu, and placing a further bar to any further detention and prosecution of Kanu on any charge/indictment before any court in Nigeria.
On October 28, 2022, a three-person panel of Justices of the Court of Appeal (Abuja Judicial Division), granted an application for the stay of execution of the judgment of the Court of Appeal, pending the determination of the appeal filed before the Supreme Court by the Federal Government.
Ejiofor said the decision was taken by the legal representatives of Mr Kanu that the “ruling has no foundation in law or facts, placed before the court, should be immediately appealed against, for it to be set aside by the Apex Court.”
He claimed that this position was approved by Kanu.
Aloy Ejimakor, special counsel to Kanu, expects the Supreme Court to ensure justice in the trial of Kanu, he said.
“We therefore, by this medium, inform the general public, and Umuchineke in particular, that we have filed an appeal against the said ruling of the Court of Appeal delivered on October 28, 2022, and will proactively follow up on the administrative process to ensure that both appeals are given accelerated hearings in line with the extant fast-track rules of the Supreme Court,” Ejiofor said.
