Kanu: Appeal Court Reserves Judgement In Govt’s Application

The Federal Government requested a stay of execution of the court's decision ordering the release of Mister Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), and the Court of Appeal in Abuja has reserved judgment on that request.

Justice Haruna Tsanami, who presided over a three-person panel, declared that once counsel adopted their written addresses, a date for the delivery of the judgment would be informed to the parties when it was prepared.

The federal government's attorney, Mr. David Kaswe, argues before the court in support of its motion for a stay of execution that Mr. Nnamdi Kanu poses a serious risk to national security and must be detained to preserve the country's overall peace and the relative calm in the South-East while a Supreme Court appeal is pending.

Kanu is a flight risk, he continued, and would leave the nation if the ruling ordering his release was not overturned.

The assertion that Kanu jumped bail during his trial at the Federal High Court, according to Kanu's lead attorney, Mister Mike Ozekhome, was rejected.

Mr. Ozekhome alleges that the soldiers unlawfully entered Kanu's ancestral home while he narrowly escaped death.

The Federal Government has no moral or legal standing to request something from the same court, he said, because it is in contempt of court for not complying with the October 13 order.

Contrary to what the Federal Government maintains, he said, only his client's release can guarantee peace throughout the entire nation, not just in the South-East.

After that, Justice Tsanami postponed making a decision.

Following that decision, there have been requests for the Federal Government to free Mister Kanu in accordance with the court's judgment; however, the government is not taking these requests into consideration because of the Supreme Court case that is still continuing.