CLAIM: Judge Tosho Step Down From Nnamdi Kanu’s Case, Says He Was Wrongfully Arrested
On March 11, 2025, a Facebook page, @Igbobillionaires made a post claiming that Judge John Tosho stepped down from presiding over the Nnamdi Kanu case. The post claimed that the judge stepped down because he believed Kanu was wrongfully arrested and that other judges who have presided over the case before him have asked the government to release Kanu and were ignored.
The Facebook post reads: “BREAKING NEWS: New judge steps down from Nnamdi Kanu’s case, says his arrest was wrong Justice John Tosho, the new judge assigned to Nnamdi Kanu’s case, has quit. He says that Kanu was brought back to Nigeria illegally, and because of that, he can’t judge the case without going against his own beliefs. The judge pointed out that other judges before him had ordered Kanu’s release, but the government ignored them. “If they didn’t listen to those orders, why would they listen to mine?” he asked. He added that Nigeria must follow it’s own laws and that keeping Kanu locked up without a good reason is wrong–not just for Nigeria, but for the whole world. “I won’t ruin my name by touching this case,” Judge Tsoho said. “It’s clear what’s right, and I won’t let this mess up my reputation. People always remember justice. Humanity has a long memory when it comes to justice, and I will not risk staining mine with a matter so transparently flawed.”
As of the time this report was published, this post had gained over 45 likes. Similar claim was also posted on Facebook, here.
VERIFICATION
Nnamdi Kanu, a Nigerian political activists and leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB)
is currently standing trial on charges of treasonable felony following his extradition from Kenya in 2021.
Justice Tosho has been serving as the chief judge of the Federal High Court of Nigeria since 2019. His relation to the Kanu case started as far back as 2015, during Kanu’s first arrest and trial. He presided over the case after Justice Ahmed Muhammed stepped down. Tsoho eventually stepped down from the case, handing it over to the then chief judge, Ibrahim Auta, after he was accused of bias by Kanu and his legal representative, at some point after this, the case was transferred to Justice Binta Nyako.
Tosho was more present in Kanu’s trial during the earlier stages and his recent relations with the case involved him as the chief judge of the Federal High Court who reassigned the case to another judge after Justice Nyako recused herself from the case.
On March 11, 2025, the Nigerian Tribune reported that the Federal High Court released a statement refuting the claim made about Judge Tsoho stepping down from Kanu’s case and debunked the statements attributed to him on the legality of Kanu’s arrest.
In a statement made available to newsrooms and signed by the chief register, Suleiman Hassan, explains that the claim is entirely unfounded, fictitious, grossly mischievous, damaging in intent and should be disregarded in its entirety. The statement also shares that the true position of the claim is that Judge Tosho, in his capacity as chief judge, has reassigned Nnamdi Kanu’s case from Justice Binta Nyako to another (unnamed) judge.
This was also corroborated by The Punch Nigeria, Vanguard News Nigeria and Dailypost Nigeria.
In a separate report, Ejimakor revealed that Justice James Omotosho is the new judge to handle the trial and Kanu will appear before him on March 21, 2025.
CONCLUSION
The claim that Judge John Tosho has stepped down from presiding over Nnamdi Kanu’s case and stating that Kanu’s arrest was wrong is FALSE. These claims were refuted by the management of the Federal High Court.
