Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), filed an appeal, which the Abuja Court of Appeal dismissed on Friday.
According to reports, the leader of IPOB is contesting claims that his fundamental rights have been violated.
After his conviction for terrorism, a three-member panel of the appellate court rendered a decision characterizing the case as academic and without merit.
After Kanu was found guilty on November 20 and sentenced to life in prison by a Federal High Court, the court ruled that his allegations of violations of his rights to human dignity, good health care, and religion during his custody by the Department of State Services (DSS) were no longer actionable.
When Kanu’s attorney, Maxwell Opara, acknowledged throughout the proceedings that his client was being confined in Sokoto prison, the appeal’s content became academic, according to Justice Boloukuromo Moses Ugo, who delivered the lead judgment.
In the main ruling, Justice Moses Ugo decided that as Kanu had already been remanded in the facility of his choice, the court could no longer allow his request to be moved to Kuje prison.
The appeal contested a July 3 decision made by Justice Taiwo Taiwo (now retired) of the Federal High Court in Abuja, which had rejected Kanu’s lawsuit to defend his fundamental rights because he had not provided sufficient evidence.
The Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), the DSS, and the Director General of the DSS were the respondents in the appeal.
Recall that Nnamdi Kanu was found guilty on all seven charges of terrorism by Justice James Omotosho, who then sentenced him to life in jail.
In delivering the verdict, Justice Omotosho emphasized that “the convict has not acted well throughout the proceedings” and that he had unnecessarily delayed the proceedings.
