UPDATED: Appeal Court strikes out Nnamdi Kanu’s rights enforcement case against DSS DG, AGF

The Court of Appeal, Abuja Division, on Friday, struck out the appeal brought before it by the convicted leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, for lacking in merit and had become academic following his conviction for terrorism by a Federal High Court in a judgment delivered on November 20.

A three-member panel of Justices of the appellate court, in a unanimous judgement, found that Kanu’s claim that his fundamental rights to human dignity, right to quality health care and religion were being breached by his continued detention in the facility of the Department of State Services (DSS) was no longer feasible since his conviction, life imprisonment sentence and remand in prison custody.

Justice Boloukuromo Moses Ugo, in the lead judgment, held that the substance of the case has become academic and, since Kanu’s lawyer (Maxwell Opara) confirmed at the commencement of proceedings on Friday, that his client was being held in Sokoto prison, the court could no longer order him to be moved to Kuje prison to which he had sought to be relocated from the DSS custody.

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Justice Ugo further held that, having earlier exhibited a preference for prison custody, the court could no longer grant his prayers since he had been convicted and sent to the prison where he had wanted to be kept.

The judgment was on Kanu’s appeal against the July 3, 2022, judgment by Justice Taiwo Taiwo of the Federal High Court in Abuja (now retired), which earlier dismissed his fundamental rights enforcement suit on the grounds that he failed to prove his case.

Kanu had claimed, in the instant appeal, that his fundamental rights to human dignity, right to quality healthcare, and religion were being breached by his continued detention in the facility of the DSS and prayed the appellate court to overturn the said judgement.

Listed as respondents in the appeal were the Director General of the DSS, the DSS, and the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF).

Recall that Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court in Abuja had, on November 20, 2025, convicted and sentenced Nnamdi Kanu to life imprisonment after he was found guilty of terrorism charges preferred against him by the Department of State Services (DSS).

NIGERIAN TRIBUNE