The Supreme Court has ordered the continuation of the trial of Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) over t£rrorism charges.
The Court, on Friday, December 15, also declined to order the release of the embattled IPOB leader from detention.
The apex court, in a judgment delivered by Justice Emmanuel Agim, but written by Justice Garba Lawal, voided and set aside the judgment of the Court of Appeal, which in October 2022 ordered Kanu’s release and quashed the t£rrorism charges against him.
The Supreme Court held that although the Nigerian government recklessly and unlawfully rendered Kanu from Kenya, such an unlawful act has not divested any court from proceeding with trial.
“The Court of Appeal was wrong to say that the Federal High Court can no longer try Mr Kanu. The appeal is allowed and the cross-appeal is dismissed.
Our law is that evidence illegality obtained is valid before the court. A vi%lation of Mr Kanu’s right should have been by a way of civil proceedings. That is not our law for now,” the court ruled.
The Nigerian government had repatriated Kanu from Kenya, after the Federal High Court in Abuja ordered the IPOB leader’s arrest for jumping bail in 2017.
Kanu was being tried before Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court in Abuja, for terr%rism.
