The Okwu-Kanu family has urged Nigeria’s appellate courts to urgently schedule and hear two pending cases involving the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, questioning the disparity between the speed of judicial proceedings in 2022 and the pace of his current legal challenges.
In a statement signed by Emmanuel Kanu on behalf of the family, the Okwu-Kanu family said Kanu had separately petitioned the Chief Justice of Nigeria and the President of the Court of Appeal, seeking the immediate listing of the pending matters.
The family alleged that the Federal Government had shown “no sign of willingness to join issues” in either proceeding, while Kanu remains in detention serving a life sentence.
The family recalled that on October 13, 2022, the Court of Appeal delivered a judgment discharging Kanu and quashing the criminal charges against him. It described the ruling as an “acquittal-equivalent discharge.”
According to the statement, however, the Federal Government did not release Kanu after the judgment. Instead, by October 28, 2022, it had filed, listed, argued and obtained a stay of execution from a differently constituted panel of the Court of Appeal.
The family argued that the order prevented Kanu from enjoying the liberty granted by the earlier judgment, despite what it described as the final determination of the criminal appeal.
“Fourteen days. In fourteen days, the machinery of the Court of Appeal moved from an acquittal-equivalent discharge to a civil stay that kept Mazi Nnamdi Kanu in detention,” the statement said.
It further described the resort to a civil procedure in relation to what it regarded as an already concluded criminal proceeding as a “constitutionally impermissible hybridisation.”
The family said the speed with which the courts handled the 2022 proceedings contrasted sharply with the pace of Kanu’s current cases.
According to the statement, Kanu commenced proceedings before the Supreme Court on November 7, 2025, challenging the legality of the court’s remittal judgment delivered on December 15, 2023.
The family said the Federal Republic of Nigeria had been served with the relevant processes but alleged that more than nine months later, no substantive response had been filed and the matter had yet to be listed for hearing.
It also highlighted a separate appeal pending before the Court of Appeal against Kanu’s November 20, 2025 conviction and life sentence.
The family said Kanu’s Appellant’s Brief was filed on June 5, 2026, and served on the respondent. It added that the period allowed for the Federal Government to file its Respondent’s Brief had expired, but no brief had been filed and the appeal had not been listed for hearing.
“When the Federal Government wanted to prevent Mazi Nnamdi Kanu from enjoying his acquittal-equivalent discharge: fourteen days. When Mazi Nnamdi Kanu asks the courts to determine whether his continued detention and life sentence are lawful: months of waiting. Why?” the family asked.
The Okwu-Kanu family stressed that Kanu was not seeking a predetermined outcome from the courts, but only an opportunity for the outstanding legal questions to be heard and determined.
It therefore appealed to the Supreme Court to list and hear the case challenging the December 15, 2023 remittal judgment.
The family also urged the Court of Appeal to list and determine Kanu’s appeal against his conviction and life sentence “without further delay.”
It called on the Federal Government to participate in the proceedings and defend the judicial outcomes on which Kanu’s continued detention is based.
The family further disclosed that it would formally notify the United States Congress, the Israeli Knesset and the International Bar Association about what it described as an unacceptable delay in the determination of the cases.
According to the statement, relevant court records and a chronology of events would be forwarded to the institutions as the family seeks to draw attention to what it considers a fundamental disparity in the pace of Nigeria’s judicial process.
The family questioned why, in its account, the appellate machinery was able to move within 14 days in 2022 when the Federal Government sought to prevent Kanu’s release, but had not demonstrated similar urgency in determining his challenges to the legality of his continued detention and life sentence.
“There cannot be emergency justice when the State seeks detention and slow justice when the citizen seeks liberty,” the family said.
“Justice delayed is justice denied.”