Here is the latest news about Nnamdi Kanu charges.
Nnamdi Kanu, the head of the Indigenous People of Biafra, was acquitted on Thursday by the Court of Appeal in Abuja of the terrorism-related charges the Federal Government had brought against him. The court cited executive carelessness as the reason for its decision.
Judge Jummai Hannatu of the Gombe Division presided over a three-person panel that rendered the decision.
In his appeal with case number CA/ABJ/CR/625/2022, Kanu requested that the appellate court drop the remaining seven counts of terrorism-related allegations brought against him.
As you may recall, security officers took Kanu on October 14, 2015, and charged him with 11 counts of treasonable felonies, illegal possession of firearms, and improper importation of goods.
Years passed while the case was unresolved, and five counts were amended by the prosecutors.
After a military invasion of his native country in Abia state, Kanu fled the country. He was eventually apprehended again abroad and brought to Nigeria to stand prosecution.
According to Mandy News previous report on the case, eight of the amended 15 counts of terrorism-related accusations against Kanu were dismissed by Justice Binta Inyako of the Federal High Court of Abuja on April 8, 2022 because they were mostly redundant.
However, the lower court judge kept counts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, and 13.
Chief Mike Ozekhome SAN, Kanu’s attorney, petitioned the Court of Appeal for a vacation order against the entire case at trial on the grounds that his client could not be tried for a crime for which the claimed location of commission had not been identified by the federal government.
He pleaded with the appellate court to decide whether Kanu’s unusual extradition from Kenya without any kind of legal proceeding entitles him to a trial in Nigeria for any crime.
However, D. Kaswe, Assistant Chief State Counsel from the Chambers of the Attorney-General of the Federation, had pleaded with the appellate Court to reject the appeal as being without substance because Kanu had been returned to Nigeria through the proper legal channels.
In regards to extradition, the panel noted on Thursday that the lower court had ruled that the accusations that were dismissed did not disclose any offense and were redundant, but that the remaining case would still go through.
The panel decided that once jurisdiction was brought up, it needed to be settled first because it could have an impact on the entire case.
