The National Judicial Council has rejected news that Nnamdi Kanu, the Indigenous People of Biafra leader, was discharged and repatriated to Kenya.
The NJC, in a statement by its Deputy Director of Information, Kemi Ogedengbe, on Thursday in Abuja, stated that the alleged article is fiction and an imagination of the writers.
The council noted that, even though the publication is signed by Nigeria’s Chief Justice, Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, there is no decision of her court to back the claim.
Kanu is currently standing trial on a seven-count terrorist charge filed by the federal government.
He was first arrested on October 14, 2015, upon his return to Nigeria from the United Kingdom. After being detained at the Kuje Correctional Facility, he was released on health reasons in 2017.
But Kanu jumped bail and returned to the United Kingdom. He was once more arrested in Kenya in 2021 and extradited to Nigeria, where he is still under the custody of the Department of State Services to date.
Kanu’s trial, which was briefly stalled due to his demand for a change in his trial judge, is set to continue on Friday, March 21, before Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court in Abuja.
The statement read, “The attention of the National Judicial Council has been drawn to media reports that the Chief Justice of Nigeria and Chairman of the Council, Hon. Justice Kudirat Motonmori Olatokunbo Kekere-Ekun, has ordered the release of the detained Nnamdi Kanu and his repatriation to Kenya.
“The council wishes to state that the media report is false and a figment of the writer’s imagination, as there are no court proceedings, decisions, or judgments where such statements ascribed to His Lordship were made.
“The council categorically emphasizes that the Hon. CJN neither presided over any case involving Kanu at the apex court, where jurisdiction issues were argued, nor made any such pronouncement.”
The council added that the CJN never wrote any formal letter to the Kenyan Government or High Commission apologising for the arrest of Nnamdi Kanu or his trial. It urged members of the public to disregard the fake story.
