THE Supreme Court at a sitting on Thursday adjourned an appeal filed by the federal government against the judgement of the Court of Appeal which ordered the release of Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
Justice John Okoro, who led a five-member panel of justices of the Supreme Court, adjourned the matter to May 11, 2023 for the hearing.
It would be recalled that the Court of Appeal in Abuja on October 13, 2022, struck out the terrorism and treasonable felony charges filed against Kanu by the federal government and ordered it to release him.
The government, however, subsequently filed an appealed against the judgement at the Supreme Court asking it to overturn the decision. The government then further obtained an order to continue to remand Kanu pending the determination of the appeal at the Supreme Court.
At Thursday’s proceedings at the Supreme Court, Kanu’s lead lawyer, Chief Mike Ozekhome SAN, informed the court of some applications bordering on his client’s bail and “deteriorating” health.
Chief Ozekhome therefore urged the court to either grant Kanu bail or order his transfer from the custody of the Department of State Services (DSS), Abuja, to the Kuje Correctional Centre, Abuja, for him to be easily accessible pending the hearing and determination of the appeal.
Counsel to the federal government, Tijjani Gazali SAN, however opposed Chief Ozekhome’s requests arguing that the DSS detention centre has adequate resources to attend to Kanu’s health needs.
After listening to the arguments, the panel advised Ozekhome to withdraw his applications to pave the way for a speedy hearing of the main suit and directed Gazali to file the appellant’s brief within six days from Thursday.
The court’s panel comprised John Okoro, Ibrahim Saulawa, Uwani Abba-Aji, Tijjani Abubakar and Emmanuel Agim.
