The detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, has petitioned the Chief Justice of Nigeria and the President of the Court of Appeal, seeking the immediate scheduling of his pending legal challenges over his continued imprisonment.
Kanu’s family disclosed this in a statement issued on Tuesday and signed by Prince Emmanuel Kanu, alleging that the Federal Government had failed to actively participate in the proceedings despite being served with the relevant court processes.
According to the family, Kanu is not seeking preferential treatment or asking the courts to rule in his favour. Rather, he wants his cases assigned to the appropriate judicial panels, heard and determined in accordance with the law.
The family questioned the delay in hearing Kanu’s cases, especially when compared with the speed at which the judiciary acted in 2022 after the Federal Government sought to prevent his release.
It recalled that the Court of Appeal, on October 13, 2022, discharged Kanu and set aside the charges against him.
The Federal Government, however, secured a stay of execution on October 28, 2022, effectively preventing the IPOB leader from benefiting from the judgment.
Kanu’s family argued that the 14-day interval between the appellate court’s judgment and the government’s successful application for a stay demonstrated the speed with which the judicial process could operate when Kanu’s release was being challenged.
The family said it was therefore difficult to understand why similar urgency had not been applied to Kanu’s current appeals, which concern his liberty.
“Fourteen days were enough for a differently constituted panel of a functus officio Court of Appeal to deploy civil procedure against an acquittal-equivalent discharge,” the statement said.
“Months cannot now be acceptable merely to list proceedings in which that same man’s liberty is at stake.”
The family also maintained that the stay of execution obtained in 2022 could not, in itself, restore criminal charges that had already been quashed by the Court of Appeal.
“A civil stay is not a criminal charge. A civil stay is not a remand warrant. A civil stay does not revive quashed criminal counts,” it stated.
Kanu’s family said his latest case before the Supreme Court was initiated on November 7, 2025, challenging the legality of the apex court’s December 15, 2023 remittal judgment.
Although the Federal Government was served with the proceedings, the family alleged that it had not filed a substantive response more than nine months later, while the case was yet to be scheduled for hearing.
The IPOB leader is also appealing his conviction and life imprisonment sentence imposed on November 20, 2025 before the Court of Appeal.
His family said Kanu’s Appellant’s Brief was filed on June 5, 2026 and served on the Federal Government, but the deadline for the government to file its Respondent’s Brief had elapsed without any filing.
It added that the appeal had also not been listed for hearing.
The family described the situation as particularly troubling because both cases directly affect Kanu’s continued detention and personal liberty.
“Mazi Nnamdi Kanu is not asking the Chief Justice of Nigeria or the President of the Court of Appeal to decide either case in his favour,” the statement said.
“He is asking that the cases be placed before the appropriate panels and heard. Nothing more. Nothing less.”
The family challenged the Federal Government to defend the legality of the proceedings if it remained convinced that the Supreme Court’s remittal judgment and Kanu’s subsequent conviction and sentence were lawful.
“If the Federal Government believes the Supreme Court remittal was lawful, let it appear and defend it,” the family said.
“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.”
The family also announced plans to bring the alleged delays to the attention of international institutions, including the United States Congress, the Israeli Knesset and the International Bar Association.
It said relevant court documents and a detailed chronology of Kanu’s legal proceedings would be presented to the bodies for consideration.
According to the family, the international bodies would be asked to examine what it described as the disparity between the judiciary’s swift action when the government sought to prevent Kanu’s release in 2022 and the prolonged delay in hearing his current challenges to his detention and life sentence.
The family called on the Supreme Court to immediately schedule Kanu’s case challenging the December 15, 2023 remittal judgment.
It equally urged the Court of Appeal to fix a date for hearing his appeal against his conviction and life sentence.
The family further demanded that the Federal Government appear before the courts and defend the legal basis for keeping Kanu in detention.
“We ask for no favour. We ask for no predetermined judgment,” the statement said.
“We ask only that liberty receive at least the same judicial urgency previously given to its restraint.”
The family concluded with a direct appeal to the judiciary: “Fourteen days to act against his freedom. Months of delay when he seeks freedom. Explain the difference.”
“List the cases. Hear them. Decide on them,” it demanded.
