The leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, has formally written to the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) and the President of the Court of Appeal, requesting the immediate listing and hearing of his two pending cases.

In a statement issued on Tuesday and endorsed on behalf of the Okwu-Kanu Family by Prince Emmanuel Kanu, the family said Kanu had separately written to both judicial authorities to seek action on the cases.

The family expressed concern over what it described as a lack of willingness by the Federal Government to join issues in either proceeding, while Kanu remains in detention serving a life sentence.

Family demands urgency from judiciary

The Okwu-Kanu Family urged the Nigerian judiciary to demonstrate the same urgency over Kanu’s freedom as it allegedly showed when the Federal Government sought to prevent his release.

The family recalled that on October 13, 2022, 14 days before Kanu was expected to be released, the Court of Appeal delivered its final judgment discharging him and quashing the criminal charges against him.

“It was an acquittal-equivalent discharge. The Federal Government refused to release him,” the family said.

According to the family, the Federal Government subsequently filed, listed, argued and obtained a civil stay of execution from a differently constituted panel of the same Court of Appeal on October 28, 2022.

The family argued that this happened despite the criminal appeal having already been finally determined, adding that the Court was therefore functus officio.

Family questions continued detention

The family said the development prevented Kanu from enjoying the liberty granted by the acquittal-equivalent discharge.

It expressed regret that within 14 days, the Court of Appeal allegedly moved from an acquittal-equivalent discharge to a civil stay that kept Kanu in detention.

“The criminal appeal had already been finally determined. The Court was functus officio. Yet a differently constituted panel was assembled and civil procedure was deployed to restrain liberty arising from a concluded criminal proceeding,” it said.

Kanu asks courts to list pending cases

Kanu urged the Chief Justice of Nigeria and the President of the Court of Appeal to ensure that the appropriate panels list and hear the pending matters.

He also challenged the Federal Government to appear before the courts and defend its position.

“If the Federal Government believes the Supreme Court remittal was lawful, let it appear and defend it. If it believes the conviction and life sentence are lawful, let it file its papers and defend them. But silence and delay cannot become substitutes for adjudication,” he said.

The Okwu-Kanu Family called on the Supreme Court to list and hear the pending proceeding challenging the remittal judgment delivered on December 15, 2023.

It also urged the Court of Appeal to list and hear Kanu’s appeal against his conviction and life sentence without further delay.

Family demands government defend Kanu’s continued detention

The family further asked the Federal Government to appear before the courts and defend the judicial decisions upon which Kanu’s continued detention is based.

“To our knowledge, never before in Nigeria has a civil procedural rule been deployed in this manner to deny liberty to a person following an acquittal-equivalent discharge. Mazi Nnamdi Kanu appears to be the first and only person subjected to it,” the family said.

According to the statement, Kanu commenced proceedings before the Supreme Court on November 7, 2025, challenging the legality of the Supreme Court’s remittal judgment of December 15, 2023.