Minister of Police Affairs, Mohammed Maigari Dingyadi, says Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) was acquitted not discharged.
Dingyadi on Friday said the government was considering what steps to take after a court dropped terrorism charges against the separatist leader on Thursday.
“Kanu was discharged but he is not acquitted so the government is considering the appropriate action to be taken on the matter,” Minister of Police Affairs Mohammed Dingyadi told reporters, adding that a decision would be made soon.
All three judges hearing the case at Nigeria’s Court of Appeal dropped terrorism charges that the government had brought against Kanu, citing that a lower court had no jurisdiction to try the case and that Kanu was abducted and extraordinarily extradited to Nigeria.
Kanu, who was not in the courtroom for the ruling, has not been released from custody.
Kanu leads IPOB, which campaigns for the secession of a part of southeastern Nigeria where the majority belong to the Igbo ethnic group.
Nigerian authorities have labeled IPOB a terrorist organisation.