Nnamdi Kanu Writes CJN, Demands Listing Of His Cases

The detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, has written separately to the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) and the President of the Court of Appeal, demanding the immediate listing and hearing of his two pending cases.

The Okwu-Kanu Family, in a statement issued on Tuesday and endorsed on its behalf by Prince Emmanuel Kanu, said Kanu’s letters were aimed at ensuring that the pending proceedings are brought before the appropriate judicial panels without further delay.

The family alleged that the federal government had shown a lack of willingness to join issues in either proceeding while Kanu remains in detention, serving a life sentence.

It urged the judiciary to demonstrate the same urgency in considering matters affecting Kanu’s freedom as it did when the Federal Government sought to prevent his release.

The family recalled that on October 13, 2022, the Court of Appeal delivered its final judgment discharging Kanu and quashing the criminal charges against him.

He said, “It was an acquittal-equivalent discharge. The federal government refused to release him.”

According to the family, on October 28, 2022, barely two weeks later, the federal government filed, listed, argued and obtained a civil stay of execution from a differently constituted panel of the same Court of Appeal.

It argued that this occurred despite the criminal appeal having already been finally determined, contending that the court was therefore functus officio.

The family said the order prevented Kanu from enjoying the liberty granted by the Court of Appeal’s judgment.

It said, “The criminal appeal had already been finally determined. The Court was functus officio. Yet a differently constituted panel was assembled and civil procedure was deployed to restrain liberty arising from a concluded criminal proceeding.”

The Okwu-Kanu Family expressed concern that the judicial process moved from what it described as an acquittal-equivalent discharge to a civil stay of execution within 14 days, thereby keeping Kanu in detention.

Kanu, while not asking the CJN or the President of the Court of Appeal to decide either case in his favour, requested that the matters be assigned to the appropriate panels and heard.

He said, “If the federal government believes the Supreme Court remittal was lawful, let it appear and defend it. If it believes the conviction and life sentence are lawful, let it file its papers and defend them. But silence and delay cannot become substitutes for adjudication.”

The family consequently demanded that the Supreme Court list and hear the pending proceeding challenging the remittal judgment delivered on December 15, 2023.

It also urged the Court of Appeal to list and hear Kanu’s appeal against his conviction and life sentence without further delay.

The family called on the federal government to appear before the courts and defend the judicial decisions on which Kanu’s continued detention is based.

It said, “To our knowledge, never before in Nigeria has a civil procedural rule been deployed in this manner to deny liberty to a person following an acquittal-equivalent discharge. Mazi Nnamdi Kanu appears to be the first and only person subjected to it.”

According to the family, Kanu commenced proceedings before the Supreme Court on November 7, 2025, challenging the legality of the Supreme Court’s remittal judgment of December 15, 2023.

The family maintained that the two pending cases should now be listed and heard, arguing that continued delay should not replace judicial determination of the issues surrounding Kanu’s detention and conviction.