The Federal High Court in Abuja, in a ruling delivered on Thursday, struck out the N50 billion lawsuit filed by Nnamdi Kanu, the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), against the Federal Government. The case was dismissed by Justice Inyang Ekwo due to lack of diligent prosecution.
At the time the matter was called, there was no legal representation for either Kanu or the Federal Government. Justice Ekwo noted that this absence of counsel was not the first. According to him, the suit had suffered at least three adjournments as a result of similar occurrences. He then ruled that the case be struck out since there appeared to be no genuine effort to continue with the proceedings.
The suit, filed in 2022, was based on claims by Kanu that his fundamental rights had been violated when he was allegedly abducted in Kenya and brought back to Nigeria without due legal process. In the case marked FHC/ABJ/CS/462/2022, Kanu sued the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Attorney-General of the Federation as the first and second defendants.
Kanu argued that his transfer from Kenya back to Nigeria in June 2021 constituted an unlawful act and violated local and international laws, including Article 12(4) of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and Nigeria’s own Extradition Act.
He had sought several reliefs from the court, including his release from the custody of the Department of State Services (DSS), a halt to further prosecution on charges brought against him, and a N100 million compensation as cost of the legal action. Additionally, he asked the court to declare his continued detention illegal.
However, the Federal Government opposed the suit, submitting a preliminary objection. Their legal team argued that the same matter had already been addressed in another court in Umuahia under case number FHC/UM/CS/30/2022, making the current suit a duplication and thus, an abuse of court process.
The objection also noted that since Kanu had sought similar reliefs in the previous case involving the same parties, the Abuja court had no grounds to entertain a fresh suit on the same issues.
Notably, there had been a change in Kanu’s legal representation during earlier hearings. Lawyer Aloy Ejimakor informed the court that he would be taking over the case from Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mike Ozekhome, who initially filed the lawsuit in April 2022.
