Nigeria: Separatist leader Nnamdi Kanu to remain in jail after supreme court's ruling

Nnamdi Kanu will remain in custody pending the determination of his hearing. The west African nation's supreme court ruled Friday that the separatist leader should be kept in prison, overturning a 2022 judgment by a lower court that ordered his release.

Judge Lawal Garba also ruled that his extradition was illegal but his terrorism trial at a lower federal court should continue as reported by Reuters news agency.

Last year October, an appeal court in the capital Abuja had dropped all charges against Kanu after ruling that he had been illegally arrested abroad. His lawyers said he was detained in Kenya, or forcibly 'abducted' before been transported to Nigeria. 

Nnamdi Kanu is the leader of the banned Indigenous People of Biafra (Ipob) group, which has been campaigning for the creation of an independent state in south-eastern Nigeria.

He was first arrested in 2015 on treason and terrorism charges. While out on bail, Kanu fled the country.

The embattled separatist leader has not been released since his rearrest in 2021. He will remain under the custody of Nigeria's secret police Department of State Services (DSS) as the government sets a new date for the continuation of his trial.