The Court of Appeal in Abuja struck out an appeal filed by convicted terrorist Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
The court ruled the appeal lacked merit and was deemed academic following his conviction by a Federal High Court on November 20.
Delivering judgment on Friday, November 28, a three-member appellate panel held that Kanu’s claims—which alleged violations of his fundamental rights, including human dignity, access to quality health care, and freedom of religion—could no longer stand given his conviction, life imprisonment sentence, and subsequent remand in prison.
In the lead judgment, Justice Boloukuromo Moses Ugo noted that since Kanu’s lawyer, Maxwell Opara, confirmed his client was being held at Sokoto prison, the court could not grant his request for a transfer from the Department of State Services (DSS) facility to Kuje prison.
Justice Ugo further stated that since Kanu had previously preferred prison custody, his prayers for a transfer could not be granted after his conviction and transfer to the correctional facility he had sought.
The judgment was on Kanu’s appeal against the July 3 judgment by Justice Taiwo Taiwo of the Federal High Court in Abuja (now retired), which earlier dismissed his fundamental rights enforcement suit on the grounds that he failed to prove his case.
Listed as respondents in the appeal were the Director General of DSS, DSS, and the AGF.
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