A three-member panel of the court held on Friday that the appeal lacked merit and had become academic following Kanu’s conviction on terrorism charges and his subsequent sentence to life imprisonment on November 20.
In the lead judgment, Justice Boloukuromo Moses Ugo said Kanu’s requests—ranging from allegations of torture, denial of medical care, and violation of his right to worship—could no longer stand since he had already been moved to Sokoto prison, where he is currently serving his sentence.
Justice Ugo noted that Kanu’s lawyer, Maxwell Opara, confirmed at the hearing that his client was no longer in DSS custody, making his request for transfer to Kuje prison irrelevant.
He added that since Kanu had previously requested to be moved from the DSS detention centre to prison custody, the court could not revisit issues that had already been overtaken by events.
The judgment relates to Kanu’s appeal against the July 3 decision of now-retired Justice Taiwo Taiwo of the Federal High Court in Abuja, who dismissed his rights enforcement suit for lack of evidence.
The Director-General of the DSS, the DSS as an agency, and the Attorney General of the Federation were listed as respondents in the matter.
