The detained leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, has approached the Court of Appeal, Abuja Division, seeking an order to restrain the Federal High Court from delivering judgment in his ongoing terrorism trial.
Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court has fixed November 20 for judgment in the case, which has been ongoing since 2015.
The judge fixed the judgment day on November 7 after granting Kanu repeated opportunities to enter his defence.
Kanu had earlier sacked his legal team and opted to defend himself. He, however, turmed around, saying there was no valid charges against him to warrant entering a defence.
In his no-case submission, he argued that the terrorism law under which the Federal Government charged him had been repealed. He, therefore, filed an application, asking the court to free him.
However, Justice Omotosho dismissed his no-case submission and gave him repeated opportunities to defend himself, before finally fixing November 20 for judgment.
In a last-ditch effort, Kanu approached the judge on Tuesday, asking him to adjourn the judgment indefinitely, a request that was turned down.
Displeased, Kanu, on Wednesday, approached the Court of Appeal in Abuja, praying it to order the lower court to halt scheduled judgment.
Kanu stated that he had filed a notice of appeal against the September 26 ruling of Justice Omotosho, which dismissed his no-case submission and ordered him to defend the terrorism allegations.
In the appeal, with the Federal Government as the sole respondent and Kanu as appellant, he argued that the lower court erred in dismissing his no-case submission without considering the jurisdictional and legal validity of the charges.
Among his claims, Kanu contended that the Federal High Court was wrong to uphold the charges because the Terrorism Prevention and Prohibition Act had been repealed, making the charges invalid.
He also argued that the judge failed to address the constitutional issue of jurisdiction in his ruling on the no-case submission.
Kanu further alleged that Justice Omotosho did not properly evaluate the evidence of prosecution witnesses or their cross-examinations to determine whether the evidence had been discredited.
He stated, “I sought to call 23 witnesses only after the issue of jurisdiction had been determined, but the court refused to allow this, stating that such would be done in the final judgment. The judge foreclosed my right to defend myself while refusing to rule on my objections to the validity of some counts in the charges.”
He warned that if the Court of Appeal does not halt the judgment, he risks being unlawfully convicted and sentenced, and his appeal would become “a mere academic exercise,” effectively turning the appellate process into a fait accompli.
In a 13-paragraph affidavit, Kanu also raised issues of disobedience to the Supreme Court’s order on the validity of count seven of the charges and the failure to apply the mandatory test under Section 303 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) 2015.
He claimed that the Supreme Court had clarified that count seven was no longer an offence in Nigeria, having been repealed.
Kanu emphasised that his pending appeal raises substantial constitutional issues, particularly noting that counts one to six of the charges are based on a repealed statute, meaning there are no valid charges against him.
He stated, “The respondent will suffer no prejudice if this application is granted, and conversely, refusing this application would give rise to injustice as it will shut me out of my constitutional right of appeal.”
No date has been fixed yet for the hearing of the motion by the Court of Appeal.
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