Kanu plans appeal after losing N1bn suit against FG

The Federal High Court in Abuja, on Monday, dismissed the fundamental rights suit filed by the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, against the Federal Government.

Justice James Omotosho dismissed the suit for lacking in merit.

But Kanu’s lawyer,  Aloy Ejimako, told The PUNCH, “We will appeal.”

The judge said the IPOB leader failed to provide evidence to sustain his claim that the Federal Republic of Nigeria; the Attorney General of the Federation; the Department of State Services and its Director General, listed as defendants, violated his fundamental rights.

Kanu had, in the suit marked FHC/CS/1633/2023, claimed that the DSS and its Director General violated his right to a fair hearing by allegedly preventing his lawyers from having unhindered interactions with him to prepare him for his treason trial.

He alleged that DSS officials eavesdropped on his conversations with his lawyers, which constituted a breach of his right to a fair hearing.

He further alleged that DSS operatives did not allow his lawyers to take notes during pre-trial meetings with him.

He prayed the court to make “a declaration that the respondents’ act of forcible seizure and photocopying of confidential legal documents pertaining to facilitating the preparation of his defence which were brought to him at the respondents’ detention facility by his lawyers, amounted to a denial of his rights to be defended by legal practitioners of his own choice.”

But in his judgment on Monday, Justice Omotosho said Kanu failed to provide credible evidence to sustain his claims.

Kanu has been on trial since 2015 when he was arrested over his secessionist push. He fled the country in 2017 after being granted bail but he was rearrested in Kenya and repatriated to Nigeria in 2021 and has been in the DSS detention since then.

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