Supreme Court to hear Nigerian Govt’s appeal on Nnamdi Kanu acquittal as Appeal Court stands down Govt’s stay of judgement motion
The Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal has stood down hearing in the application filed by the Federal Government seeking a stay of the execution of the court’s judgment of October 13 which dismissed all terrorism charges against the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, as well as discharging him.
When the matter was called at the resumed hearing, the lawyer representing the Federal Government, David Kaswe, informed the court that he received the counter of the respondent only on Friday and received an additional counter affidavit this morning and as such, would need a short adjournment to enable him to reply the respondent.
But in a short ruling, the three-man panel of the appellate court presided over by Justice Haruna Tsalmani, declined to grant the request for adjournment on grounds that the matter before the court was one that requires an accelerated hearing, adding that the issue raised by Kanu’s lawyer, Mike Ozekhome, was not such that required adjournment to respond to.
Justice Tsalmani accordingly directed Kaswe to immediately go and do the needful before the court reconvenes later in the day.
The appeal against the dismissal of terrorism charges against the leader of proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, by the Federal Government at the Supreme Court will be heard today.
The Nigerian government filed the appeal last week asking the Supreme Court to set aside the ruling of the Appeal Court on October 13 where all the treasonable felony charges against Kanu, were dismissed while he was discharged.
Among other prayers, the Federal Government is asking the apex court to rule that the appellate court panel ‘erred in law and occasioned a miscarriage of justice when it relied on the manner Kanu was rendition from Kenya to Nigeria after he jumped bail the trial court granted to him in 2017, to quash the entire charge against him.’
