Appeal Court Dismisses Kanu’s Rights Violation Case Against FG.

The Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal on Friday dismissed an appeal filed by the convicted leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu, in which he accused the Federal Government of breaching his fundamental rights.

The appeal listed the Director General of the Department of State Services, DSS, and the Attorney General of the Federation, AGF, as respondents.

A three-man panel of the Court of Appeal rejected the matter, ruling that it had become a purely academic argument because Kanu had already been convicted and sentenced by the Federal High Court in Abuja.

In the main judgement delivered by Justice Boloukuromo Ugo, the court noted that Kanu’s lawyer, Maxwell Opara, acknowledged that his client is currently serving his sentence at the Sokoto Correctional Centre.

The court stated that, with this fact established, the request contained in the appeal for Kanu to be transferred from DSS detention to Kuje prison could no longer be entertained.

The justices further held that, since Kanu had earlier indicated that he preferred to be kept in prison custody, his present conviction and confinement at the Sokoto correctional facility fulfilled that preference.

The panel therefore struck out the appeal, stating that it lacked merit.

Kanu had, through the appeal, contested the judgement delivered on July 3 by Justice Taiwo Taiwo of the trial court, which rejected his application seeking the enforcement of his fundamental rights.

It will be recalled that the high court had on 20 November convicted Kanu on a seven-count terrorism charge brought against him by the Federal Government.

Justice James Omotosho, ruling that the prosecution had proven the components of the charge beyond reasonable doubt, sentenced him to life imprisonment.