The Chief Judge of the Federal High Court in Abuja, Justice John Tsoho, has reassigned the case involving Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, to a different judge.
This update was shared in a statement signed by Kanu’s lead counsel, Aloy Ejimakor, on Saturday in Abuja.
It is worth noting that Kanu had previously requested the recusal of Justice Binta Nyako, who was overseeing the seven-count terrorism charge filed against him by the Federal Government.
While Justice Nyako initially stepped down from the case and sent the file back to the Chief Judge for reassignment, the file was later reassigned back to her, a decision Kanu strongly objected to.
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On February 20, Kanu’s legal team sent a letter to the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, requesting her intervention in the matter.
Ejimakor’s statement further revealed that on Friday, March 7, the legal team received two separate letters concerning Kanu’s case: one from the Chief Justice of Nigeria and another from the Chief Judge.
The statement read, “Yesterday, before the legal team conducted our routine visitation to Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, we received two separate official letters regarding his case. The letters are momentous and somewhat pyrrhic.
“One letter was from the Honourable Chief Justice of Nigeria, responding to a recent letter we had written to her, seeking her prompt administrative intervention (as the administrative head of the Nigerian judiciary) on the matter of a proper and lawful reassignment of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s case, following the recusal of the judge that was conducting it.
“The other letter was from the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, informing us that the case has been reassigned to another judge of the Federal High Court.”
Ejimakor mentioned that after receiving the letters, Kanu directed his legal team to express his heartfelt appreciation to the Chief Justice of Nigeria for her wise administrative judgment and the swift manner in which she addressed their request.
“He also expressed his profound appreciation to members of the general public who publicly supported our righteous demands that Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s case be reassigned to another judge, as the law demands.
“To be clear, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu has always been ready to stand trial because he is firmly convinced of his innocence. However, the perverse events of the past six months (from September 2024, when the recusal happened) posed significant dangers to his constitutional rights, particularly his right to a fair and speedy hearing. It was in light of this that we resorted to taking extraordinary measures to ensure that his case is properly reassigned and conducted by the law.
“Now that the authorities have taken the initial steps to uphold the law, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and his legal team will take stock and focus on zealous preparation for his defence,,” Ejimakor stated.
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