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The Court of Appeal in Abuja has struck out the appeal filed by terrorism convict Nnamdi Kanu of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), ruling that it lacked merit and had become academic following his conviction by a Federal High Court on November 20.
Delivering judgment on Friday, a three-member panel of the appellate court held that Kanu’s claims alleging violations of his fundamental rights, including human dignity, access to quality health care, and freedom of religion, could no longer stand in light of his conviction, life imprisonment sentence, and subsequent remand in prison custody.
In the lead judgment, Justice Boloukuromo Moses Ugo noted that since Kanu’s lawyer, Maxwell Opara, confirmed at the start of proceedings that his client was being held at Sokoto prison, the court could not grant his request to be transferred from the Department of State Services (DSS) facility to Kuje prison.
Justice Ugo added that because Kanu had previously expressed a preference for prison custody, his prayers could no longer be considered after his conviction and transfer to the correctional facility where he had sought to be kept.
The judgment was on Kanu’s appeal against the July 3 judgment by Justice Taiwo Taiwo of the Federal High Court in Abuja (now retired), which earlier dismissed his fundamental rights enforcement suit on the grounds that he failed to prove his case.
Listed as respondents in the appeal were the Director General of the DSS, DSS, and the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF).
Details shortly…
