Nigerian Judiciary Succumbs To Pressure, Chief Justice Reassigns Kanu's Case To Another Judge.

Nigerian Judiciary Succumbs To Pressure, Chief Justice Reassigns Kanu's Case To Another Judge.  The Chief Judge of the Nigerian Federati...

Nigerian Judiciary Succumbs To Pressure, Chief Justice Reassigns Kanu's Case To Another Judge. 

The Chief Judge of the Nigerian Federation has hearken to the appeal and demands of the incarcerated leader of the Indigenous People Of Biafra (IPOB) movement, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, to reassign his case file to another judge, after the previous judge, Justice Binta Murtala-Nyako was accused of judicial prejudice and subsequently recused from the case. 

This was made known by the IPOB leader’s legal attorney, Barr Aloy Ejimakor, in press statement communicated to the public on 8th March 2025, after an official routine visit at the Nigerian secret police headquarters in Abuja. 

The statement cited the IPOB leader, expressing gratitude, applause over the intervention of the Chief Justice of the Federation over what was becoming a miscarriage of justice and disregard to the rule and stipulations of Nigerian laws as enshrined in the constitution. 

The statement reads, " Yesterday, before the legal team conducted our routine visitation to Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, we received two separate official letters regarding his case. The letters are momentous and somewhat pyrrhic." 

"One letter was from the Honourable Chief Justice of Nigeria, responding to a recent letter we had written to her, seeking her prompt administrative intervention (as the administrative head of Nigerian judiciary) on the matter of a proper and lawful reassignment of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s case, following the recusal of the Judge that was conducting it. 

"The other letter was from the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, informing us that the case has been reassigned to another Judge of the Federal High Court." 

"Consequent upon these latest developments, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu instructed the legal team to publicly convey his sincere gratitudes to the Chief Justice of Nigeria for her sound administrative discretions and the despatch with which she responded to our request. He also expressed his profound appreciations to members of the general public who publicly expressed their support to our righteous demands that Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s case be reassigned to another Judge, as the law demands."

"To be sure, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu has always been ready to take his trial because he is firmly convinced of his innocence. But the perverse events of the past six months (from September 2024, when the recusal happened) posed portent dangers to his constitutional rights, particularly his right to fair and speedy hearing. It was in view of these untoward developments that we were propelled to resort to taking extraordinary measures to ensure that his case is properly reassigned and conducted in accordance with the law."

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