High court dismisses eight of the 15 charges federal government filed against Nnamdi Kanu

INDIGENOUS People of Biafra (Ipob) leader Nnamdi Kanu secured a significant victory in his ongoing legal battle with the federal government when an Abuja high struck out eight of the 15 charges that the state prosecutors brought against him.

Highly controversial, Mr Kanu has been campaigning for the recreation of the independent republic of Biafra which broke away from Nigeria between July 1967 and January 1970 during the civil war. His campaign, which has led to the phenomenal growth of Ipob, has set him at odds with the Nigerian government who him arrested and put on trial for treason.

While the case was still pending, Mr Kanu was granted bail in April 2017 on health grounds but skipped his bail after flouting the conditions given to him by the court and fled Nigeria. In a dramatic development, however, in June last year, Mr Kanu was abducted in Kenya and deported to Nigeria in a highly efficient military operation and his trial has since resumed.

Today, when his case came before Justice Binta Nyako of the Abuja Federal High Court, only seven of the charges filed against him were allowed to stand. Among the original 15 charges filed against Mr Kanu by the federal government were those bordering on terrorism and treasonable felony.

Mr Kanu has been in the custody of the Department of State Services since his arrest in June 2021. In several other suits, he is challenging the legitimacy of his arrest, saying he was abducted in an illegal manner from Kenya without any recourse to local laws.