Kanu's Lawyer Presses Court of Appeal for Bail Ruling as Government's Reply Brief Runs Overdue

A Procedural Deadline Missed

Barrister Aloy Ejimakor, Special Counsel to Nnamdi Kanu, has told the Court of Appeal that the Federal Government has missed the deadline to file its reply brief in Kanu's pending appeal, and has urged the court to set a near date to hear Kanu's bail application rather than continue waiting for the government to act. Ejimakor made the request in a social media post, arguing that the government's failure to join issues in the appeal should not be allowed to further delay a decision on whether Kanu should be granted bail while the substantive appeal proceeds.

The Argument for Moving Ahead

According to Ejimakor, Kanu's Appellant's Brief of Argument was filed and served on the government on June 5, 2026, triggering the standard window for a Respondent's Brief. That window has since lapsed without a filing. Ejimakor's position is straightforward: since the government has not engaged with the substance of the appeal, the fair next step is for the court to proceed with considering bail rather than let an unfiled brief hold up a decision that only concerns Kanu's liberty pending the appeal's outcome.

Part of a Wider Push for Movement

This is not an isolated complaint. Kanu himself wrote separately to the Chief Justice of Nigeria and the President of the Court of Appeal earlier this month, from the Sokoto custodial centre where he is held, asking that his pending motion, his bail application, and the substantive appeal all be listed and heard. His family echoed the same concern in a separate statement, noting that the Record of Appeal was transmitted back in March and the Appellant's Brief filed in June, yet no hearing date has been fixed. The family contrasted this pace with how quickly the courts moved in 2022 when the government sought to prevent Kanu's release following an earlier appellate ruling in his favour.

Where Things Stand

Kanu was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment, along with other terms, by the Federal High Court in Abuja on November 20, 2025, on terrorism-related charges. His legal team maintains the appeal is proceeding through the correct procedural stages, even as they now argue those stages are moving too slowly given what is at stake. No hearing date for the bail application had been announced as at the time of writing.

The Bigger Picture

The dispute is as much about process as outcome. Ejimakor and Kanu's family are not asking the courts to decide the underlying appeal in Kanu's favour , only to move the case forward on the timetable the rules already provide. Whether the Court of Appeal agrees that an unfiled government brief is grounds to proceed with the bail application will likely shape how similar delay disputes are argued in other high-profile appeals going forward.