By Peter Onyekachukwu 
By Peter Onyekachukwu
The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has struck out an application filed by the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, seeking an order to compel his transfer from the Sokoto Correctional Centre to a custodial facility closer to Abuja.
Delivering the ruling on Tuesday, Justice James Omotosho held that the application was incompetent and therefore liable to be struck out.
Kanu, who was sentenced to life imprisonment on November 20, 2025, after being found guilty on seven counts of terrorism-related offences, had argued that his continued detention in Sokoto State would hinder his ability to effectively pursue an appeal against his conviction.
In the motion ex parte marked FHC/ABJ/CR/383/2015, which Kanu personally signed, he stated that he was transferred to the Sokoto Correctional Facility on November 21, 2025, a location he said is more than 700 kilometres away from Abuja where his appeal would be processed.
According to him, the preparation and filing of his notice of appeal would require personal interaction with the registry of the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal in Abuja.
He further claimed that his relatives, associates and legal consultants, who would assist in prosecuting the appeal, are all based in Abuja, making it difficult for him to access them while in Sokoto.
Kanu maintained that his continued detention far from Abuja amounted to a violation of his constitutional right to fair hearing and appeal as guaranteed under Section 36 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).
He therefore asked the court to order the Federal Government and the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) to transfer him to a custodial facility within Abuja or, in the alternative, to nearby centres such as Suleja or Keffi.
The court had earlier declined to hear the motion on December 4, 2025, after Kanu’s younger brother, Prince Emmanuel, attempted to move the application despite not being a legal practitioner.
Subsequently, on December 8, 2025, a lawyer from the Legal Aid Council of Nigeria (LACoN), Demdoo Asan, appeared on Kanu’s behalf, and the court ordered that the processes be served on the Federal Government and the prison authorities.
However, at the resumed hearing on Tuesday, Asan informed the court of his decision to withdraw from the matter, citing irreconcilable differences with the applicant.
He told the court that Kanu’s relatives had failed to come forward to depose to an affidavit in support of the application despite several efforts, and accused Kanu of attempting to dictate how the case should be conducted.
Invoking Order 50 Rule 1 of the Federal High Court Rules, Asan formally withdrew from the case, a request Justice Omotosho granted.
In his ruling, the judge noted that although the court had earlier directed service of the processes in the interest of justice, the failure to comply and the defective nature of the application rendered it incompetent, leading to its being struck out.