The Chief Judge of the Federal High Court in Abuja, Justice John Tsoho, has reassigned the case of Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, to a new judge.
This was revealed by Kanu’s lead counsel, Aloy Ejimakor. Kanu had previously requested that Justice Binta Nyako recuse herself from overseeing the seven-count terrorism charge filed against him by the Federal Government.
Although Justice Nyako initially stepped down and transferred the case file back to the Chief Judge for reassignment, the file was later returned to her, a decision Kanu strongly opposed.
On February 20, Kanu’s legal team sent a letter to the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, asking for her intervention in the case reassignment.
In a statement released today, Ejimakor disclosed that on Friday, March 7, the legal team received two official letters regarding Kanu’s case—one from the Chief Justice of Nigeria and another from the Chief Judge.
“Yesterday, before our routine visitation to Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, we received two separate official letters about his case. These letters are significant, albeit somewhat symbolic,” Ejimakor said. “One was from the Honourable Chief Justice of Nigeria, responding to our recent letter asking for her administrative intervention, as the head of the Nigerian judiciary, for the lawful reassignment of Kanu’s case after the judge’s recusal.”
“The second letter was from the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, informing us that the case has been reassigned to another judge.”
Upon receiving the letters, Ejimakor noted that Kanu instructed his legal team to publicly express “sincere gratitude to the CJN for her sound administrative judgment and the prompt response to our request.”
He also extended appreciation to the public for their support in pushing for the reassignment of Kanu’s case as required by the law.
“To be clear, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu has always been willing to face trial because he firmly believes in his innocence. However, the events of the past six months (since September 2024, when the recusal occurred) have raised serious concerns about his constitutional rights, especially his right to a fair and speedy trial. It was because of these concerns that we took extraordinary steps to ensure his case was properly reassigned and handled according to the law.”
“Now that the authorities have taken initial steps to uphold the law, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and his legal team will focus on thorough preparation for his defense,” Ejimakor concluded.
