A N50 billion lawsuit filed by Nnamdi Kanu against the Federal Government has been dismissed by the Federal High Court in Abuja for lack of action.
The case was struck out on Thursday, April 10, 2025, after both parties failed to appear before the court.
The suit was originally filed by Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), who claimed that he was unlawfully taken from Kenya and brought to Nigeria to face trial.
He accused the government of violating his rights by using irregular means to return him to the country, rather than following legal procedures.
Kanu asked the court to examine whether his return to Nigeria without proper extradition followed any known law.
He based his claims on several legal documents, including the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and Nigeria’s Extradition Act.
He wanted the court to declare his trial invalid and also sought an order for his release from the custody of the Department of State Services (DSS).
He also demanded N100 million as the cost of the legal action.
The Federal Government, however, had earlier challenged the case, calling it a misuse of court processes.
According to them, Kanu had already filed a similar case at the Federal High Court in Umuahia, which involved the same issues and parties.
Because of that, they argued that the Abuja court had no right to continue hearing this one.
On Thursday, Justice Inyang Ekwo noted that the matter had been adjourned several times due to the absence of Kanu’s legal team.
Although the government had shown up at the previous hearing, neither side had legal representation when the case was called again.
The judge then ruled that the case could not move forward and decided to strike it out.
The suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/462/2022, was originally filed in April 2022 by Kanu’s then-lawyer, Mike Ozekhome.
But later, another lawyer, Aloy Ejimakor, informed the court that he had taken over the case.
With the dismissal of this suit, the legal battle over Kanu’s return to Nigeria and ongoing prosecution appears to have hit another roadblock.
