Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the outlawed the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), has filed an application at the Court of Appeal in Abuja seeking to stop the Federal High Court, Abuja from going ahead with its plan to deliver judgement on the terrorism charges against him.
Mr Kanu is facing terrorism charges at the Federal High Court in Abuja which has slated 20 November for judgement.
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However, the IPOB leader, in the application at the Court of Appeal, asked the higher court to stop further proceedings in his trial before Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court
Aloy Ejimakor, the special counsel to Mr Kanu, said in an X post on Wednesday that the IPOB leader personally filed the application at the appeal court earlier today.
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“This may impact the 20th November date fixed for delivery of judgement in the trial,” He wrote on the X handle.
The lawyer also uploaded on the microblogging platform a copy of Mr Kanu’s motion on notice application and an affidavit supporting his notice.
PREMIUM TIMES reported earlier on Wednesday that Mr Kanu, in a similar application, asked Mr Omotosho to suspend the judgement, arguing that the proceedings were conducted under a repealed and non-existent law.
What Kanu says in the application
Mr Kanu, in the application, dated 10 November but acknowledged two days after, explained that his prayer for an order staying the proceedings of the Federal High Court on the terrorism charges against him was to enable the hearing and determination of the lower court’s decisions in the trial.
The IPOB leader mentioned the lower court’s dismissal of his no-case submission, refusal to determine its jurisdiction, and the validity of the charges under which he was being tried.
He also complained of the alleged foreclosure of his rights to defend the case by fielding witnesses.
“Though the appellant (Kanu) filed a list of witnesses to be called in defence of the case and indicated that the appellant’s defence would come up and the appellant fields witnesses immediately the court determines its jurisdiction and the validity of the counts, the trial court refused and held that the decision would only be given on the objections during judgement.
“The trial court, while refusing to rule on the objection, foreclosed the appellant’s right to defend the heinous allegations levelled against the appellant,” he said.
Continuing, the IPOB leader said: “If the application is not granted, the appellant may be unlawfully convicted without being afforded the opportunity of knowing the validity of the counts, the jurisdiction of the trial court and offering a defence on the merits.”
In the affidavit supporting his application, Mr Kanu told the appeal court that he personally brought the application having assumed conduct of his defence.
The IPOB leader reminded the court that the lower court, in its ruling on 26 September 2025, dismissed his no-case submission.
“Dissatisfied with the said ruling, I have filed a Notice of Appeal/motion to seek leave to appeal, an accompanying Tripartite Application before this Honourable Court, seeking extension of time to seek leave, leave to appeal, and extension of time to file the Notice of Appeal.
“The appeal raises substantial, recondite and constitutional issues of law, including the trial court’s reliance on a repealed statute for Counts 1-6, disobedience of a binding Supreme Court directive on Count 7, and failure to apply the mandatory statutory test under Section 303(3)(c) ACJA when ruling on a No-Case Submission,” he argued.
Background
Mr Kanu was first arrested in 2015 under the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.
The IPOB leader had been discharged and acquitted by the Court of Appeal in Abuja in 2022, but the Nigerian government blocked his release.
The government claimed that he (Kanu) could be unavailable in subsequent court proceedings if he were released and that his release would cause insecurity in the South-east, where he comes from.
They later appealed the court ruling and subsequently obtained an order staying the execution of the court judgement at the Supreme Court.
On 15 December 2023, the Supreme Court reversed the lower court’s acquittal granted to Mr Kanu and consequently ordered continuation of his trial at the Federal High Court, Abuja.
On 19 June 2025, the Nigerian government closed its case against the IPOB leader after the 5th prosecution witness was led in evidence and cross-examined by Mr Kanu’s lawyer, Onyechi Ikpeazu, before Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court in Abuja.
However, rather than opening his defence, Mr Kanu, through his lawyers, instead filed a no-case submission to seek the dismissal of the charges on the grounds that the evidence presented by the prosecution failed to establish any case against him to warrant him entering any defence.
Despite initial opposition from the prosecuting lawyers, the court later accepted Mr Kanu’s application for the no-case submission.
But on 26 September, the court dismissed the no-case submission filed by Mr Kanu and ordered him to enter his defence.
In a surprise move on 24 October, the Biafra agitator sacked all his lawyers and opted to defend himself before naming top past and serving government officials as witnesses before his planned defence.
On 27 October, Mr Kanu told the court that he would not enter his defence in the terrorism trial, insisting that there were no valid charges against him.
READ ALSO:Terrorism Trial: What judge told Nnamdi Kanu, lawyers before Friday’s adjournment
He claimed that he had reviewed the case of the prosecution and found it was not worth defending.
But Mr Omotosho directed Mr Kanu to file a written address to that effect and serve the prosecution.
The judge also advised him to consult experts in criminal law on the implications of his decision before adjourning the trial until 4 November.
On the adjourned date, the IPOB leader filed a written address, insisting that there were no valid charges against him which prompted the judge to slate 20 November for judgement.
