• Nigeria’s Court of Appeal dismisses terrorism charges against separatist leader Nnamdi Kanu.
• Kanu was charged with seven counts of terrorism on Thursday.
• However, the presiding judge rejected the charges.

All three judges hearing the case unanimously decided to dismiss the terrorist charges the government had filed against separatist leader Nnamdi Kanu in Nigeria’s Court of Appeal.

Kanu was charged with seven counts of terrorism on Thursday, but the presiding judge rejected the charges and released Kanu, claiming that a lower court had the authority to hear the case and that Kanu had been kidnapped and then unusually transported to Nigeria.

The decision was supported by the two additional judges.

Kanu did not attend the hearing.

According to the lead judge, Justice Oludotun Adefope Okojie, “this appeal succeeds in light of the fact that the trial court lacks jurisdiction to hear this issue because the process of extradition of the appellant from Kenya to Nigeria was unlawful since the due process was not followed.”

She continued, “Consequently, the appellant is therefore discharged.”

Kanu should face trial, the Nigerian High Court decided in April.

He is the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), a group that advocates for the separation of the Igbo-majority region of southeast Nigeria from Nigeria.

IPOB has been classified as a “terrorist organization” by Nigerian authorities.

The government is reviewing its legal options in light of Thursday’s decision, according to a spokesperson for Nigeria’s attorney general, but the allegations against Kanu that preceded his disappearance in April 2017 while out on bail “remain valid problems for court adjudication.”

In relation to social media posts he published between 2018 and last year, Kanu was accused of disseminating false information and supporting terrorism. Both accusations were refuted by Kanu.

His attorneys contended that because he was forcibly extradited from Kenya to Nigeria, he could not have a fair trial. Kenya has refused to confirm whether it was involved in Kanu’s homecoming.

In 1967, the year Kanu was born, Igbo separatists attempted to form the Republic of Biafra, which led to a three-year civil war that claimed more than one million lives.

Residents in the southeast have been instructed to “sit at home” as a show of support for Kanu since the start of his trials in Abuja.

In the five states in the region, the IPOB campaign has destroyed small companies and frequently interfered with other economic activity.

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