The Court of Appeal in Abuja on Friday ordered that the execution of its judgement which faulted the extradition of the leader of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, from Kenya to Nigeria and set aside the terrorism charges against him be put on hold.
It also asked that the Supreme Court should expedite hearing in the Federal Government’s appeal against its judgment which discharged Kanu of the terrorism charges brought against him.
Consequently, it ordered its registry to compile and transmit to the Supreme Court within seven days the record of appeal in respect of the judgment delivered on October 13 and ordered the affected counsel to settle the records immediately for transmission to the Supreme Court.
The appellate court had on Thursday, October 13, 2022, 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 judgement delivered by Justice Oludotun Adefope-Okojie, the Appeal Court declared as illegal and unlawful the abduction of Kanu from Kenya to Nigeria and quashed the entire seven charges retained by the trial court against him on the ground that the Federal Government breached all local and international laws in the forceful extradition of Kanu 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.
However, Justice Haruna S. Tsammani, in the ruling on Friday , held that the counter affidavit filed against the Federal Government’s application by Kanu’s legal team was misleading.
“On that note, it is my view, which I hold, that this application is meritorious. Therefore, the sole issue raised by the application is hereby resolved in favour of the applicant. The application is accordingly granted and I hereby order as follows: that the execution of the judgment delivered by the Court of Appeal, Abuja Division, on the 13th day of October, 2022, in Appeal No: CA/ABJ/CR/625/2022 between: Nnamdi Kanu Versus The Federal Republic of Nigeria is hereby stayed pending the hearing and determination of the appellant’s/applicant’s appeal against the said judgment by the Supreme Court,” Justice Tsammani. said.
