An ECOWAS court sitting in Abuja, has dismissed an application filed by the Muhammadu Buhari-led government asking that the suit filed by the Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, be quashed.
Jubilation has erupted among members of the secessionist group led by Nnamdi Kanu and those sympathetic to his plight, following this report.
Kanu’s suit seeks the court to grant him an unconditional release from detention as well as damages to the tune of $800 million.
According to Channels TV, the Nigerian government asked the court to dismiss the case the matter is before a federal high court and the appeal court.
The government’s counsel had argued that, Kanu’s application constitutes an abuse of court process.
The presiding judge, Micah Wright-Williams, dismissed the application of the government for lacking in merit.
The court said it has the jurisdiction to hear cases of infringement of human rights.
Nnamdi Kanu was arrested by Nigeria’s secret police in October 2015 and has been held in incarceration since that time in disobedience to a number of court orders to the government granting the IPOB leader bail.
He was later moved from the DSS underground detention facility to Kuje Prisons in 2016, after initial charges against him were dismissed by an Abuja High Court.
The Buhari-led government refiled new 11-count charges against Kanu including treason and unlawful assembly. Justice Binta Nyako, last week, dismissed 6 counts against him and his co-accused.
Additional reports by Naij.com.
