THE Supreme Court on Thursday adjourned the hearing of federal government’s appeal concerning the leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, until September 14, 2023.
The federal government had appealed against last year’s decision of the Court of Appeal dismissing the terrorism and treasonable felony charges against Kanu.
The Biafra secessionist also has a pending appeal before the Supreme Court, an application for bail with an alternative prayer for transfer of his custody from the State Security Service (SSS) to the Kuje Correctional Centre in Abuja.
A five-member panel of Justices led by Justice John Okoro, on Thursday, adjourned the suit despite frantic efforts by Kalu’s legal team to convince the court to hear the case and not to defer it to another date.
The IPOB leader’s lead counsel, Mike Ozekhome, SAN, had during the proceedings, urged the court to hear a motion that could help address his client’s fast-deteriorating health conditions in SSS custody.
But the federal government’s lawyer, Tijani Gadzali, SAN, objected to the position, asking for time to file a response to Ozekhome’s reply brief.
The court, swayed by Gadzali’s position, adjourned the case to September 27, 2023.
The panel had on April 27, 2023 adjourned the case to Thursday for hearing of applications that cropped up in the appeal.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported that Ozekhome informed reporters after Thursday’s proceedings that he has a pending application seeking the release of Kanu on bail, or an order transferring the detainee from the SSS custody to the Kuje Correctional Centre in Abuja.
Speaking of the IPOB leader’s state of health in SSS custody, Ozekhome said: “I expressed my fear regarding Kanu’s state of health which I described as life threatening…The court requires an individual to stand trial, not to ‘sit down trial’, ‘lie down trial’ or ‘prostrate trial’, which means that Kanu, with his state of health, cannot stand trial,” the lawyer added.
Both the federal government’s appeal and Kau’s application are the two major matters pending at the court for hearing.
