Judicial Delay Is A Death Sentence: Nnamdi Kanu’s Life On The Line

Judicial Delay Is A Death Sentence: Nnamdi Kanu’s Life On The Line

Judicial Delay Is A Death Sentence: Nnamdi Kanu’s Life On The Line

Today at the Federal High Court Abuja, Justice Musa Liman once again reminded the world how the Nigerian judiciary uses “procedure” as a weapon against justice. The detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, is battling deteriorating health, yet instead of urgent intervention, his plea for medical transfer has been pushed into the endless cycle of judicial bureaucracy.

Kanu’s counsel, Uchenna Njoku (SAN), had filed a motion seeking his immediate transfer from the Department of State Services (DSS) facility to the National Hospital, Abuja, for urgent medical attention. But Justice Liman, hiding behind the excuse of the court’s annual vacation ending today, referred the matter back to the Chief Judge for reassignment. In his own words, the case was “urgent” but was filed “late.” What hypocrisy! When it concerns human life, there is no such thing as “late.”

The DSS counsel, Adegboyega Awomolo (SAN) shamelessly echoed the same bureaucratic excuse, saying the matter could have been heard if filed earlier. This is nothing but a calculated attempt to delay, deflect and deny justice to a man whose health situation has already been ignored for too long.

Let it be clear, justice delayed in this matter is justice denied, and denial of urgent medical care is a silent death sentence. The Nigerian judiciary has made itself complicit in the slow destruction of Nnamdi Kanu by continuously prioritizing legal technicalities over human life.

When over 30 cases were listed today, the registrar conveniently pruned them to six, yet Kanu’s urgent application was not among them. That is not accident, it is deliberate. A system that cannot find time to hear a life-threatening medical motion but finds time for routine matters is a system weaponized against justice.

Nnamdi Kanu is not asking for luxury. He is not asking for privilege. He is asking for medical care, something guaranteed under both Nigerian law and international human rights standards. By shuffling his case file around while his health deteriorates, the court has effectively endorsed his continued suffering under DSS custody.

This is no longer about law, it is about life. And if the Nigerian judiciary continues to toy with Kanu’s life, history will remember it not as an arbiter of justice but as a willing accomplice in state-sponsored persecution.

Every day Nnamdi Kanu is denied medical care, the Nigerian judiciary writes another line in its book of shame.