By Muhammadu Sabiu
The arrested leader of the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, had his appeal accepted by the Court of Appeal on Thursday in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory.
The contested group’s leader was likewise released from custody and found not guilty by the court.
In his appeal dated April 29 and designated CA/ABJ/CR/625/2022, Kanu requested to be released. After being initially charged on December 23, 2015, Kanu was eventually released on bail on April 25, 2017.
But on Thursday, the Court of Appeal threw out all of the Federal Government’s terrorism-related charges against Kanu and said that his kidnapping from Kenya to Nigeria was wrong and illegal.
The Appellate Court said that when the Federal Government sent Kanu to Nigeria against his will, it broke all national and international laws. This made the terrorism charges against him invalid and illegal.
The Federal Government’s accusations against Kanu were thrown out and set aside by the Appeal Court in a decision by Justice Oludotun Adebola, declaring the Biafran leader as not guilty of the charges.
According to Justice Adebola, the allegations against Kanu were rendered null and void since Nigeria failed to extradite him in accordance with the law.
The Appeal Court also said that the terrorist charges should be dropped because the Federal Government had not said where and when the supposed crimes happened.
Ifeanyi Ejiofor, Kanu’s lawyer, and a human rights activist wrote on his Facebook page on Thursday about the verdict and said that Kanu had finally won.
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