Court strikes out Kanu’s application for transfer from Sokoto prison to Abuja

The Federal High Court, Abuja, on Tuesday struck out a request for the transfer of the custody of Biafra agitator Nnamdi Kanu’s custody from Sokoto, where he is serving a life jail term, to Abuja.

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The judge, James Omotosho, struck out the application filed as a motion ex parte, following the withdrawal of the Legal Aid Council of Nigeria (LACON) from Mr Kanu’s defence.

The Senior Legal Officer of LACON, Demdoo Asan, representing Mr Kanu, announced his withdrawal from the defence, citing irreconcilable issues.

“Since the last adjourned date, I have been on constant phone communication with the relatives of the applicant.

“However, the relatives of the applicant didn’t show up at our office to submit the application. Despite phone calls and promises to show up,” Mr Demdoo narrated.

He also said “the applicant wants to dictate the tune of the matter, he wants to control what counsel would say, he wants to write down what I would say while in court. But, as an officer of the court, I can’t in good faith accept that.”

Mr Demdoo also told the court how he consulted with his superiors, who shared the same sentiment.

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He said, as officers of the court, he and his office would handle the matter as they saw fit, or the applicant could seek legal representation elsewhere.

On that note, he invoked Order 50, Rule 1 of the Federal High Court Rules to withdraw from the matter.

In his ruling, the judge, Mr Omotosho, commended the counsel for upholding the dignity of the court.

“Having listened to counsel from the Legal Aid Council, I will grant leave for the counsel and the Legal Aid generally, to withdraw from representing the defendant convict,” Mr Omotosho said.

He also described the motion as “incompetent.’

The judge explained that despite the flaws of the application, directed other parties involved in the matter to be served with the processes filed, in the interest of justice. But, since the last court sitting on 8 December 2025 until today 27 January, there was no proof of service before this court.

The judge struck out the ex-parte motion for lacking competence.

The LACON came into the matter after the judge rejected the move by Mr Kanu’s brother who was not a lawyer to move the application on behalf of the Biafra agitator.

Post-conviction battle

The judge sentenced Mr Kanu to life imprisonment for terrorism on 20 November 2025.

The court convicted Mr Kanu, a dual citizen of Nigeria and the United Kingdom, over his violent campaigns for the independence of Nigeria’s South-east and neighbouring states of the region as Biafra.

Handing down the sentence, Mr Omotosho ordered that Mr Kanu should be held in any secure prison in any part of the country but not Abuja, which has a history of a recent jailbreak.

This prompted the prison authorities to keep him in the Sokoto correctional facility.

Mr Kanu subsequently filed his ex parte application seeking “an order compelling the complainant (federal government)!and/or the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) to forthwith transfer him from the Sokoto Correctional Facility to a custodial facility within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court.”

Alternately, Mr Kanu sought an order transferring him to the court’s “immediate environs, such as the Suleja or the Keffi Custodial Centre, for the purpose of enabling the applicant (Kanu) to effectively prosecute his constitutionally guaranteed right of appeal.”

On 4 December 2025, when the application came up for hearing, Mr Omotosho rejected an attempt by Mr Kanu’s brother, Prince Emmanuel, to move the application on behalf of the convict.

The judge said Mr Emmanuel could not be permitted to move the application because he was not a lawyer. Mr Omotosho then advised Mr Emmanuel to either engage a lawyer or approach the legal aid council to provide him a lawyer to move the application.

Mr Asan from the legal aid council subsequently appeared as Mr Kanu’s lawyer.

But on 8 December 2025, the judge rejected the ex parte application moved by Mr Asan for the transfer of Mr Kanu from Sokoto to Abuja.

The judge said the application could not be granted through ex-parte motion – an application designed to be heard in the absence of the adverse parties.

Mr Omotosho held that the respondents – the federal government and the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) – ought to be put on notice for them to respond appropriately in the interest of justice, before the request could be granted.

But the judge said on Tuesday that there was no evidence that the respondents were ever served the processes as directed. Mr Asen withdrew from the defence on Tuesday.

The terrorism trial of Mr Kanu spanned over a decade with repeated court appearances, adjournments and legal challenges.

He was first arrested in October 2015 and charged with offences including treasonable felony and unlawful possession of arms. He was granted bail in 2017 but fled Nigeria after soldiers reportedly raided his home.

He was rearrested in Kenya in June 2021 and brought back to Nigeria to face trial on seven terrorism-related counts.

The case was restarted under Judge Omotosho in March 2025 after earlier judicial recusals.

Between May and June 2025, the court set strict dates for the federal government to close its case. In September 2025, Mr Kanu filed a no-case submission, which was dismissed, and the court later ordered a medical panel to assess his fitness to stand trial.

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In October 2025, Mr Kanu sacked his legal team and pledged to represent himself.

He repeatedly declined to open his defence, asserting there was no valid charge against him, and was eventually deemed to have waived his right to do so.
On 20 November 2025, Mr Kanu was convicted on all seven counts and sentenced to life imprisonment.

He is now serving his sentence at the Sokoto Correctional Facility.

In the recent motion struck out by the court, Mr Kanu had sought to be transferred from Sokoto to the Abuja facility.