Breaking: Appeal Court Discharges And Acquits Nnamdi Kanu 

The court issued a three-person panel decision in which the separatist leader was likewise released and found not guilty On October 13, 2022.

By Omotayo Olutekunbi

The imprisoned Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) leader Nnamdi Kanu’s appeal was accepted by the Appeal Court in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory.

On October 13, 2022, the court issued a three-person panel decision in which the separatist leader was likewise released and found not guilty.

Kanu is being tried by the Federal Government in Abuja for 15 counts of offenses, including treasonable felony and terrorism, that he is said to have committed while agitating for Biafra.

With Kanu’s kidnapping and exceptional return to Nigeria, which violated the Organization of African Union (OAU) convention and protocol on extradition, the appeal court determined that the Federal High Court lacked the authority to trial Kanu.

The IPOB leader was wrongfully extradited to Nigeria when the court decided that the 15-count complaint against him omitted information about the alleged crimes’ location, date, time, and nature.

In addition, the court ruled that despite Kanu being accused of serious crimes, the Federal Government refused to say where he had been detained.

After making repeated demands for Southeastern Nigeria to secede and declare the Republic of Biafra, the head of IPOB earned a negative reputation with the Federal Government.

Kanu was utilizing Radio Biafra, an internet platform, to mobilize the region’s residents for his cause while working outside of Nigerian territory, but when he arrived in the nation in October 2015, the police detained him.

The Federal Government later leveled an 11-count charge bordering on “terrorism, treasonable felony, managing an unlawful society, publication of defamatory matter, illegal possession of firearms and improper importation of goods, among others,” against him but the court granted him bail in April 2017 on medical grounds.

Instead, Kanu moved to his hometown of Afara-Ukwu, close to Umuahia, Abia State, where he resumed his Biafra campaign. He eventually left the nation in September 2017 when the military invaded his house.

After being spotted in Israel and other locations, where he had urged his supporters to use violence to achieve secession, he was re-arrested and transported back to Nigeria in June 2021.

Any misconduct has been denied by Kanu.