The Supreme Court has upheld the Federal Government’s appeal against the decision of the Appeal Court that dropped the charges against Nnamdi Kanu.
The Supreme Court ruled that Kanu must be tried in the Federal High Court.
Justice Emmanuel Agim, with the assistance of Justice Garba Lawal, delivered the judgment, stating that the Court of Appeal was mistaken in concluding that Kanu could not be retried due to the illegal actions of the Federal Government during the invasion of his home.
The Court also ruled that even though the Nigerian Government acted recklessly and unlawfully in extraditing Kanu from Kenya, this does not prevent the Court from proceeding with his trial.
Justice Lawal stated that the lawsuit seeking Kanu’s release did not cite any Nigerian law regarding his unlawful abduction from Kenya.
The Court explained that the appropriate course of action for Kanu would be to file a civil case against the government’s actions, rather than trying to stop the courts from continuing with his criminal trial.
Kanu was brought before Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court in Abuja after being extradited to Nigeria by the Federal Government.
He was accused of four counts of treasonable felony, conspiracy to commit treasonable felony, terrorism, illegal importation of radio equipment, and defamation of former President Muhammadu Buhari.
Later, the charges were changed to 15 counts of terrorism and membership of a banned group.
Justice Binta Nyako dismissed 8 out of the 15 charges, stating that Mr. Kanu still had to answer for the remaining 7 charges. Mr. Kanu was not satisfied with the ruling and appealed to the court of appeal.
The court of appeal dismissed the remaining charges and ordered Mr. Kanu’s release.
However, the court then granted a stay of execution of its judgment after the federal government informed the court that they were appealing to the Supreme Court.
