A Federal High Court in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, has struck out an application by Nnamdi Kanu, a separatist leader from south-east Nigeria and head of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), who had asked to be moved from the Sokoto Correctional Centre in Sokoto State, north-west Nigeria.
The decision was delivered on Tuesday, 27 January 2026, by Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court, a Nigerian federal trial court that handles key matters such as human rights, security-related cases, and other federal offences. Okay News reports that the judge removed the application from the court’s list after lawyers from the Legal Aid Council, Nigeria’s government-backed public defender agency, asked to withdraw from representing Kanu, citing a breakdown in their working relationship.
Kanu is serving a life sentence after the court convicted him on Thursday, 20 November 2025, on terrorism-related offences. His family has rejected the judgement and said they plan to challenge it on appeal.
After sentencing, Kanu was moved to the Sokoto Correctional Centre to begin serving his term, following a court view that the Kuje Custodial Centre, a major prison facility in Abuja, would not be suitable for him.
However, on Monday, 8 December 2025, Kanu filed an ex parte motion, meaning a request made to the court without the other side present at the first stage, asking to be transferred to a custodial centre closer to the Federal Capital Territory, the administrative area that includes Abuja. In his request, he suggested either Suleja, a town in Niger State in north-central Nigeria that borders Abuja, or Keffi, a town in Nasarawa State, also in north-central Nigeria and within commuting distance of the capital.
When the matter came up in court on Tuesday, counsel from the Legal Aid Council, Demdoo Asan, told the judge that the application could not move forward because the team had not been able to secure supporting documents from the applicant’s relatives. He said the relatives repeatedly promised to visit their office to depose to documents backing the request, but did not do so.
“Since the last adjourned date, I have been on constant phone communication with the relatives of the applicant. However, the relatives of the applicant did not show up at our office to depose to the application, despite phone calls and promises to show up,” Asan told the court.
The lawyer also complained that Kanu was attempting to control how the case was handled from detention, including directing what his lawyer should say in court. “The applicant wants to dictate the tune of the matter; he wants to control what counsel would say. He wants to write down what I would say while in court. But, as an officer of the court, I cannot in good faith accept that,” he said.
Asan added that after consulting with senior officials at the Legal Aid Council, the decision was taken to withdraw from the matter, arguing that a client should not attempt to run legal proceedings while in custody.
In his ruling, Justice Omotosho granted the request for the Legal Aid Council to withdraw and then struck out the transfer application. The judge said the motion was not properly before the court, noting that the court had earlier directed that relevant parties should be served with notice, but there was no proof that service was carried out.
“Having listened to counsel from the Legal Aid Council, I will grant leave for the counsel and the Legal Aid generally to withdraw from representing the defendant convict,” the judge said, adding that from Monday, 8 December 2025, to Tuesday, 27 January 2026, “there is no proof of service before this court.”
