Nnamdi Kanu Family Raises Alarm Over Delay In Pending Court Cases

The family of the convicted leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, says he has written to the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) and the President of the Court of Appeal, seeking the urgent listing and determination of his pending cases.

The Okwu-Kanu Family disclosed this in a statement obtained by THE WHISTLER, saying the requests were prompted by what it described as delays in the judicial proceedings involving Kanu.

According to the family, Kanu filed a suit at the Supreme Court on November 7, 2025, challenging the legality of the apex court’s December 15, 2023 judgment which remitted him for the continuation of his criminal proceedings.

The family said the Federal Government was served with the suit on the same day but had, according to its records, not filed a substantive response or caused the case to be listed for hearing more than nine months later.

In a letter dated August 15, 2026, Kanu asked the CJN, through the Chief Registrar of the Supreme Court, to ensure that the matter was listed, heard and determined.

The letter was received by the Supreme Court on August 17, 2026 and was written from the Sokoto Medium Security Custodial Centre, where Kanu is currently serving his sentence.

Kanu said he had been in detention since June 19, 2021 and urged the court to determine his pending suit.

“I write to request one thing: that my pending suit before the Supreme Court, filed on 7 November 2025 and served upon the Federal Republic of Nigeria on the same day, be listed, heard and determined,” he stated.

He said the case raised fundamental legal questions concerning the basis for his continued criminal proceedings.

Kanu argued that the December 15, 2023 judgment remitting him for continuation of trial was based on legislation that had already been repealed.

He relied on provisions of the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act 2022, which came into force in May 2022, particularly Section 97 on the continuation of certain proceedings.

He also cited Section 98(1), which repealed the Terrorism (Prevention) Act 2013.

“The judgment of 15 December 2023 remitted me for continuation of criminal proceedings founded upon legislation which the National Assembly had already repealed,” Kanu said.

“Yet I was remitted into proceedings constituted under the repealed statutory regime.”

He further complained that the jurisdictional issues raised in his suit remained unresolved while he continued to be held in custody.

The family also disclosed that Kanu has an appeal pending before the Court of Appeal against his November 20, 2025 conviction and life sentence.

The appeal, numbered CA/ABJ/CR/393/2026, arose from Charge No. FHC/ABJ/CR/383/2015 between Kanu and the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

In a separate letter dated August 10, 2026, addressed to the President of the Court of Appeal through the Chief Registrar of the Abuja Division, Kanu requested the expedited hearing of his pending applications, including his application for bail pending appeal, as well as the substantive appeal.

Kanu said the Federal High Court in Abuja convicted and sentenced him to life imprisonment, alongside other terms, on November 20, 2025.

He noted that the Record of Appeal was transmitted on March 9, 2026, while his Appellant’s Brief of Argument was filed on June 5, 2026 and served on the Federal Government.

He therefore urged the Court of Appeal to list the pending applications and substantive appeal for hearing, citing the circumstances surrounding his continued detention.

Meanwhile, the Okwu-Kanu Family questioned the difference between the pace of judicial action in 2022, when the Federal Government sought to prevent Kanu’s release, and the current delay in determining his cases.

The family recalled that the Court of Appeal, on October 13, 2022, discharged Kanu and quashed the criminal charges against him.

It alleged that 14 days later, on October 28, 2022, the Federal Government obtained a civil stay of execution from a differently constituted panel of the Court of Appeal.

The family argued that the criminal appeal had already been finally determined and that the Court of Appeal was therefore functus officio.

It also maintained that a civil stay could not lawfully sustain Kanu’s detention after the criminal charges against him had been quashed.

Describing the situation as an unprecedented “hybridisation” of civil and criminal procedure, the family argued that a civil stay was neither a criminal charge nor a remand order capable of reviving quashed criminal counts.

“Fourteen days. In fourteen days, the machinery of the Court of Appeal moved from an acquittal-equivalent discharge to a civil stay that kept Mazi Nnamdi Kanu in detention,” the family said.

It stressed that Kanu was not seeking preferential treatment but wanted his pending cases determined without further delay.

“He is not asking for special treatment. He is asking that his pending cases be listed, heard and determined,” the family said.

The Okwu-Kanu Family added that it would formally notify the United States Congress, Israeli Knesset and International Bar Association about the legal and procedural issues it said surrounded Kanu’s continued detention and pending appeals.

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