The Court of Appeal in Abuja has dismissed the appeal filed by the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, following his conviction for terrorism offences.
The court ruled that the appeal lacked merit and had become academic. Kanu was sentenced to life imprisonment by a Federal High Court on November 20.
A three-member panel of the appellate court found that Kanu’s claims that his fundamental rights to human dignity, quality health care, and freedom of religion were being violated while in the custody of the Department of State Services (DSS) were no longer tenable in light of his conviction, life sentence, and remand in prison.
In the lead judgment, Justice Boloukuromo Ugo noted that the case had become academic because Kanu’s lawyer, Maxwell Opara, confirmed that his client was already being held at Sokoto Prison.
As a result, the court could no longer grant his request to be transferred to Kuje Prison.
Justice Ugo further stated that since Kanu had previously expressed a preference for prison custody, and had now been convicted and sent to the facility of his choice, his appeal could not succeed.
The appeal challenged the July 3 ruling by Justice Taiwo Taiwo of the Federal High Court in Abuja (now retired), which had earlier dismissed Kanu’s fundamental rights enforcement suit on the grounds that he failed to substantiate his claims.