•Tinubu and embattled IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu
The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), yesterday, gave the federal government 14 days to ensure the listing and hearing of Nnamdi Kanu’s pending appeal.
They threatened to mobilise for a boycott of the 2027 general elections across the South-East and other parts of what it describes as Biafraland, reports The Guardian.
The group’s Head of Directorate of State, Mazi Chris Nwaogu, disclosed the ultimatum in a video broadcast, amid renewed concerns by Kanu’s family over delays in the hearing of his appeal against his conviction and life sentence.
Kanu’s family had recently disclosed that he wrote to the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) and the President of the Court of Appeal, seeking the immediate listing and hearing of his pending cases.
Kanu’s current legal battle followed his arrest in 2015 on charges relating to terrorism and other offences. He was initially granted bail in 2017 but later disappeared from Nigeria after security forces conducted a military operation at his residence in 2017.
He subsequently resurfaced in Nigeria in 2021 after being arrested in Kenya and brought back to the country. His lawyers challenged the circumstances surrounding his return, describing it as an extraordinary rendition.
In October 2022, the Court of Appeal in Abuja discharged and acquitted Kanu, holding, among other things, that the way he was brought back to Nigeria had affected the legal basis for continuing the prosecution.
Nwaogu accused the federal government of failing to defend Kanu’s conviction before the Court of Appeal after moving swiftly to secure his conviction.
He said: “The federal government has not filed a Respondent’s brief; they have not listed the appeal; they have not come to court. A country that rushed to convict is now too frightened to defend the conviction.
“We are giving them 14 days to list Nnamdi Kanu’s appeal; if they refuse, we will consider boycotting the coming elections across Biafraland and beyond. A government that cannot face its Court of Appeal has no right to demand our votes.”
The IPOB official warned that the group would consider mobilising for a boycott of the 2027 elections if the government failed to act within the stipulated period.
He also criticised the handling of Kanu’s case by the Nigerian judiciary, alleging that the proceedings from the trial court through the appellate stages had exposed serious concerns about the country’s judicial system.
Nwaogu further challenged the Supreme Court’s decision, which overturned Kanu’s discharge and acquittal by the Court of Appeal.
He particularly faulted the judgment delivered by Justice Lawal Garba, insisting that the apex court exceeded its constitutional powers by pronouncing on individual counts that had already been quashed by the Court of Appeal.
He said: “This judicial conspiracy through the trial court to the remittal and the present silence will shame the Chief Justice of Nigeria and all lawyers who still pretend this system is healthy. This case will either reset the Nigerian judiciary or expose it.
