The Federal Government has continued to detain Nnamdi Kanu, despite the Appeal Court ruling to release him from DSS custody.
FG indicated that it is not yet ready to release Nnamdi Kanu, over 24 hours after the Court of Appeal in Abuja freed him.
Addressing journalists after a national security meeting in Abuja on Friday, the Minister of Police Affairs, Mohammed Dingyadi, said the government was still reviewing the court’s decision before taking a position on it.
Re-echoing the Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, who gave the government’s first reaction to the verdict late on Thursday, Mr Dingyadi said Mr Kanu, the leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), was only discharged and not acquitted by the court.
Mr Kanu, a dual citizen of Nigeria and the United Kingdom, has been detained by the State Security Service (SSS) over terrorism charges filed against him since he was arrested in Kenya and brought back to Nigeria in June last year.
Twenty-four hours after the charges against him were dismissed and his release ordered by the appellate court, Mr Dingyadi said on Friday that the government was still reviewing the case, and would make its position known after weighing all available legal options.
“Similarly, the issue of Kanu has also been raised and Council was briefed on the state of things on the matter and it was observed that Kanu was discharged, but he was not acquitted.
“So, the government is considering the appropriate action to be taken on the matter and Nigerians will be notified of the position that will finally be taken on the matter in due course,” Mr Dingyadi said.
Mr Dingyadi’s comment is a repeat of the exact claims by Mr Malami in a statement on Thursday.
The “discharged-but-not-acquitted” line is seen by lawyers as a fuzzy basis for the government’s attempt to continue to hold Mr Kanu in custody against the Court of Appeal’s clear order for his release.
