A Federal High Court in Abuja has struck out a ₦50 billion fundamental rights enforcement suit filed by Nnamdi Kanu, the detained leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), against the Federal Government of Nigeria.
Presiding over the matter, Justice Inyang Ekwo ruled on Thursday, April 10, that the suit lacked diligent prosecution and was, therefore, dismissed.
“This matter has suffered repeated adjournments due to lack of representation. The court cannot continue to indulge this pattern,” Justice Ekwo declared.
During the hearing, neither Kanu nor any representative from the Federal Government was present in court. The judge noted that while the government had been represented in earlier proceedings, Kanu’s legal team had repeatedly failed to appear, prompting the court to adjourn the case on at least three separate occasions.
Kanu had initiated the suit—filed under case number FHC/ABJ/CS/462/2022—against the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), accusing them of gross violations of his rights.
The IPOB leader alleged that he was abducted in Kenya and forcibly returned to Nigeria in what he described as an extraordinary rendition. He asked the court to determine whether this process complied with international legal standards.
In his originating summons, Kanu cited Article 12(4) of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, as well as Section 15 of Nigeria’s Extradition Act, arguing that his rendition did not follow legal protocols and therefore invalidated the charges brought against him.
“The offences listed in counts 1 to 14 of the amended charge are not the offences for which I was surrendered or renditioned to Nigeria,” Kanu argued in the suit.
Among the 11 reliefs he sought was a court declaration that his continued detention by the Department of State Services (DSS) was unlawful, alongside an injunction halting his prosecution in an ongoing criminal trial under case number FHC/ABJ/CR/383/2015, which is before Justice Binta Nyako.
Kanu also demanded ₦100 million in damages to cover legal expenses and other costs related to the case.
However, the Federal Government, through a preliminary objection dated June 6, 2022, and filed on June 27, countered the suit, describing it as an “abuse of court process.”
The government’s legal team argued that Kanu had already filed a similar matter at the Federal High Court in Umuahia case number FHC/UM/CS/30/2022 which involved the same parties and similar issues. This, they claimed, deprived the Abuja court of jurisdiction.
During an earlier proceeding, Kanu’s counsel, Aloy Ejimakor, informed the court that a notice of change of legal representation had been submitted, stating he would now be handling the case in place of Chief Mike Ozekhome, SAN, who originally filed the suit on April 7, 2022.
With the case now dismissed, it remains unclear whether Kanu’s legal team will file a fresh suit or pursue an appeal. The IPOB leader remains in DSS custody, with his criminal trial still ongoing in a separate court.
