The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja has discharged and acquitted the leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu.
Justice Jummai Hanatu, who led a three-member panel of justices, struck out the seven-count charges preferred against the IPOB leader by the Federal Government.
The appellate court held that the trial court had no jurisdiction to entertain the case following Kanu’s rendition from Kenya.
Kanu’s lawyer, Ifeanyi Ejiofor, in a post on his Facebook page on Thursday confirmed the development.
“Appeal allowed, Oyendu Mazi Nnamdi KANU, discharged and acquitted. We have won!,” Ejiofor wrote.
Nnamdi Kanu has been facing trial before Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court in Abuja over charges of treasonable felony and terrorism.
The IPOB leader, who was granted bail in April 2017, had fled Nigeria after the invasion of his home in Afara-Ukwu, near Umuahia, Abia State, by the military in September 2017.
However, the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami, on June 29, 2021, announced that Nnamdi Kanu had been rearrested and extradited to Nigeria to continue facing his trial.
Malami added that the IPOB leader was “intercepted” days earlier but did not disclose which country and how the operation was carried out.
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