The Supreme Court has adjourned the hearing of the suit filed by Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB), to September 14.
Kanu had approached the court to appeal the verdict of the appeal court stopping his release from the custody of the Department of State Services (DSS).
During Thursday’s proceedings, the apex court granted the application of the Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, to file additional processes in response to Kanu’s filing, which was done on Tuesday.
The apex court said even if it proceeds to hear the appeal, there is no space within its calendar to write and deliver the verdict within the 90-day deadline.
The case was therefore adjourned to September 14.
The Court of Appeal had earlier granted a stay of execution on its verdict which discharged Kanu of terrorism charges filed against him by the Federal Government.
In a unanimous decision by a three-member panel led by Justice Haruna Tsammani, the appeal court granted the application filed by the Federal Government pending the hearing and determination of the appeal before the Supreme Court.
Kanu has been in detention since he was brought back from Kenya on June 19, 2021.
The IPOB leader was subsequently re-arraigned on an amended 15-count charge.
On April 8 2022, Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court Abuja struck out eight of the 15 counts in the charge.
The remaining seven counts were later quashed by the court of appeal on October 13.
Meanwhile, A British Court of Appeal has granted leave to the family of Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), to challenge a judgment regarding his extraordinary rendition.
Kanu has been in detention since he was brought back from Kenya on June 19, 2021 and following this, his brother, Kingsley Kanu, filed a suit challenging the UK ministers’ handling of the separatist leader’s case.
Kingsley had claimed that the UK authorities acted unlawfully by failing to reach a view on whether his brother had been subjected to extraordinary rendition.
He claimed that efforts to gain the release of the IPOB leader had been frustrated despite rulings by the UN and a Nigerian court.
In a statement on Wednesday, the Special Counsel to Kanu, Aloy Ejimakor, said a senior British Court of Appeal judge granted the application on May 8.
“The grounds of appeal raise important issues concerning the scope of the obligations on the respondent in relation to requests for consular assistance in respect of British nationals detained abroad and the proper interpretation and application of the decision of the Court of Appeal in R(Abassi) v Secretary of State for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office [2003] UKHRR 76,” the judge was quoted to have said.
“For those reasons, there is a compelling reason for the appeal to be heard, within the meaning of CPR 52.6(1) (b). Permission is granted on all three grounds.”