Appeals Court discharges, acquits Nnamdi Kanu of terrorism charges
Nigerian-British separatist leader Nnamdi Kanu when he attended a trial for treasonable felony at the Federal High Court in Abuja on February 9, 2016. The Court of Appeal in Abuja has declared as illegal and unlawful his abduction.
What you need to know:
- The court also quashed the terrorism charges brought against him by the Federal Government.
- The Court held that the Federal Government breached all local and international laws in the forceful rendition of Kanu to Nigeria.
- Last year, he was taken back to the country after Nigerian authorities said they had arrested him in London with the help of intelligence agencies.
The Court of Appeal in Abuja has declared as illegal and unlawful, the abduction of the Biafra nation agitator, Nnamdi Kanu from Kenya to Nigeria.
The court also quashed the terrorism charges brought against him by the Federal Government.
The Court held that the Federal Government breached all local and international laws in the forceful rendition of Kanu to Nigeria.
The appellate court, in a decision by a three-man panel led by Justice Jummai Hanatu, said it was satisfied that the Federal Government violated the law, when it forcefully rendered Kanu from Kenya to the country for the continuation of his trial.
In January, a Nigerian Court ruled the 2017 violent arrest of Nnamdi accused of a secessionist push in the country was illegal, even though it sustained the state’s charges of treason against him.
Last year, he was taken back to the country after Nigerian authorities said they had arrested him in London with the help of intelligence agencies.
The UK denied this and his family later claimed he had been arrested in Kenya, something that Nairobi also denied.
In Abuja, Mr Kanu also on Wednesday pleaded not guilty to the 15 charges bordering on treasonable felony and terrorism, preferred against him by the Federal Government.
He pleaded not guilty before Justice Binta Nyako when the case resumed at the Federal High Court in Abuja.
