- The Court of Appeal in Abuja has struck out an appeal filed by Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB). The court ruled that the appeal lacked merit and had become academic following Kanu’s recent conviction for terrorism offenses by a Federal High Court on November 20. The decision upholds the legal standing of the lower court’s terrorism judgment.
The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja has struck out an appeal filed by Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), declaring that the appeal was lacking in merit and had become academic.
The decision was delivered following Kanu’s conviction for terrorism offenses by a Federal High Court.
Basis for the Court’s Ruling
The appellate court held that Kanu’s conviction for terrorism offenses by the Federal High Court in a judgment delivered on November 20 rendered the present appeal pointless. The specific details of the appeal struck out were not immediately provided, but the ruling indicates that the core issues raised by Kanu in the appellate challenge are now secondary to his established conviction.
Legal analysts suggest that once a conviction on the primary charges—in this case, terrorism—is established by a lower court, any pending interlocutory or related appeals concerning the process or peripheral charges often lose their practical effect, becoming merely academic in the eyes of the appellate court.
The ruling reaffirms the legal standing of the Federal High Court’s judgment concerning the terrorism offenses.
