The family of detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, has called on the Nigerian judiciary to immediately list and hear his pending cases, alleging that the Federal Government has shown no willingness to join issues in the proceedings.

In a statement dated August 18, 2026, and signed by the Okwu-Kanu Family, the family disclosed that Kanu had separately written the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) and the President of the Court of Appeal, requesting the immediate listing and hearing of his two pending cases.

The family said Kanu was not seeking special treatment but was asking the judiciary to demonstrate the same urgency in determining matters concerning his liberty as it allegedly showed when the Federal Government moved to prevent his release.

According to the family, the contrast was particularly evident in events following the October 13, 2022 judgment of the Court of Appeal, which discharged Kanu and quashed the criminal counts against him.

The statement alleged that the Federal Government, instead of releasing Kanu, moved within 14 days to obtain a civil stay of execution from a differently constituted panel of the Court of Appeal.

“Fourteen days. In fourteen days, the machinery of the Court of Appeal moved from an acquittal-equivalent discharge to a civil stay that kept Mazi Nnamdi Kanu in detention,” the family stated.

It argued that the criminal appeal had already been finally determined and that the Court of Appeal was therefore functus officio in respect of that matter.

The family further contended that the subsequent deployment of civil procedure to restrain Kanu’s liberty amounted to an impermissible blending of civil and criminal procedure.

It maintained that a civil stay was neither a criminal charge nor a remand warrant and could not, in its view, revive criminal counts that had already been quashed.

The family therefore questioned why similar urgency had not been demonstrated in the determination of Kanu’s current cases.

Nine Months Without Hearing

According to the statement, Kanu commenced proceedings before the Supreme Court on November 7, 2025, challenging the legality of the Supreme Court’s remittal judgment of December 15, 2023.

The family said the Federal Republic of Nigeria was duly served but, according to records available to it, had not filed a substantive response more than nine months later.

It also alleged that the matter had yet to be listed for hearing.

The family disclosed that there was also a separate appeal before the Court of Appeal challenging Kanu’s conviction and life sentence imposed on November 20, 2025.

It said the continued delay had become a matter of serious concern because Kanu remained in detention while his legal challenges were pending.

The family said it would formally notify the United States Congress, the Israeli Knesset and the International Bar Association of the development.

The statement urged the relevant judicial authorities to list the pending matters without further delay, arguing that the question before the courts was not merely procedural but one directly affecting the liberty of a detained Nigerian.

The Okwu-Kanu Family called on Nigerians and the international community to pay attention to what it described as the disparity between the speed with which proceedings were pursued when Kanu’s release was being resisted and the pace of proceedings in which he is seeking judicial determination of his freedom.

The family concluded by asking: “Fourteen days then. Months now. Where is that same urgency today?”