On Thursday evening, jubilation erupted in Owerri, the Imo State capital. Immediately, news filtered in that an Appeal Court in Abuja had discharged and acquitted Nnamdi Kanu, the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
Following the development, people celebrated and ordered drinks across parts of Owerri, such as the Imo State University Junction area, Ikenegbu, Amakohia, Orji, Okigwe Road, and Flyover Junction.
At Flyover junction, a commercial driver shouted and honked that Nnamdi Kanu had finally been freed.
On Thursday, the Court of Appeal in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory, upheld the appeal of Nnamdi Kanu, the detained leader of the proscribed IPOB.
The court also discharged and acquitted the embattled leader of the proscribed group.
Kanu applied to be discharged and acquitted in his appeal dated April 29 and marked CA/ABJ/CR/625/2022. He was first arraigned on December 23, 2015, and later granted bail on April 25, 2017.
However, the Court of Appeal on Thursday declared illegal and unlawful the abduction of Kanu from Kenya to Nigeria. It quashed the entire terrorism charges brought against him by the Federal Government.
The Appellate Court held that the Federal Government breached all local and international laws in the forceful rendition of Kanu to Nigeria, thereby making the terrorism charges against him incompetent and unlawful.
In a judgment by Justice Oludotun Adebola, the Appeal Court voided and set aside the Federal Government’s charges against Kanu.
The Appellate Court proceeded to discharge Kanu from the alleged offences.
Justice Adebola held that Nigeria’s failure to follow due process through Extradition was fatal to the charges against Kanu.
The Appeal Court further held that the Federal Government’s failure to disclose where and when the alleged offences were committed was fatal to the terrorism charges and made them liable to dismissal.
Reacting to the judgment, Kanu’s lawyer and human rights activist, Ifeanyi Ejiofor, posted on Thursday that Kanu had finally won on his Facebook page.
“Appeal allowed, Oyendu Mazi Nnamdi KANU, discharged and acquitted. We have won!,” he wrote.
