Supreme Court judgement: Kanu, IPOB leader, may have changed legal team

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Indications are that the legal team of Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), may have been replaced barely a month after a Supreme Court ruling which ordered that he has a case to answer.

A judicial source was quoted that Kanu terminated the contract with his previous team, led by a renowned Senior Advocate of Nigeria.

“It is true that shortly after the supreme court ruling Nnamdi Ejimakor and Nnameka Ejiofor met with our leader and he asked them to formally write the termination of the legal contract and give it to the lead counsel. They have already done that and the Senior Advocate of Nigeria has received the letter terminating the contract,” Vanguard quotes a source as saying on Thursday.

“In place of the former legal team leader, Nnamdi Kanu has approached another legal luminary from Cross River State to be holding briefs for him. They met recently and had some discussions on how best to handle his legal matters going forward but it is not clear if the former chief legal officer for Nigeria will agree to take up the brief,” the source added.

The IPOB leader was said to have been dissatisfied over the previous team’s handling the case.

Sources allege that Kanu felt they didn’t properly challenge the charges against him and failed to secure his release, even failing to achieve his transfer from the Department of State Services (DSS) detention facility to the Kuje Correctional Center, which would offer greater access to family and friends.

Kanu is said to be equally dissatisfied with his medical care, believing inadequate efforts have been made to secure medical treatment outside the DSS facility and under the care of his preferred private doctors outside Nigeria.

On 15th December 2023, the Supreme Court overturned the Court of Appeal’s judgement that favoured Kanu. The apex court upheld the Federal Government’s appeal, arguing that although the government’s rendition of Kanu from Kenya was unlawful, it did not strip the courts of their jurisdiction to try him. This paved the way for the continuation of legal proceedings against the IPOB leader.