Kanu’s Legal Team Challenges Court’s Decision on Prison Transfer Request
The legal team representing Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) leader Nnamdi Kanu has criticised a Federal High Court ruling that struck out his application seeking transfer from the Sokoto Correctional Centre to a facility in Abuja or its surrounding areas.
Justice James Omotosho dismissed the motion after Kanu’s assigned counsel from the Legal Aid Council, Demdoo Asan, informed the court of his decision to withdraw from the case, citing unresolved disagreements with his client.
Asan reportedly told the court that Kanu insisted on directing how the case should be handled and what counsel should say in proceedings, conditions he said he could not accept.
Reacting to the ruling, the Nnamdi Kanu Global Defence Consortium issued a statement faulting the court’s decision to assign a Legal Aid Council lawyer to Kanu. The group argued that Legal Aid lawyers are typically appointed to defendants without private representation, while Kanu had previously chosen to conduct his defence personally before his conviction.
The consortium further claimed that the appointed lawyer had no meaningful access to Kanu in Sokoto and therefore could not provide proper representation. It described the court session as a procedural exercise designed to create an appearance of progress while ignoring key constitutional issues surrounding Kanu’s conviction, which it said remains under appeal.
According to the statement, the defence team considers the striking out of the motion a “sham proceeding” and confirmed that Kanu’s conviction will be contested at the Court of Appeal.
Meanwhile, a United States-based organisation, The Rising Foundation, has criticised Anambra State Governor Chukwuma Soludo over efforts to end the long-running Monday sit-at-home in the state.
In a statement signed by Dr. Maxwell Dede, the group warned against compelling traders in Onitsha to open their businesses on Mondays against their will. It accused the governor of adopting heavy-handed tactics rather than addressing underlying tensions in the region, particularly the continued detention of Nnamdi Kanu.
The organisation also condemned the reported deployment of security personnel to enforce market activities, describing it as an approach that could escalate rather than resolve the crisis.
It called for dialogue and justice as the path to lasting peace in the South-East, insisting that economic pressure and security crackdowns would not achieve stability.
