The secret trial of the leader of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB),
Nnamdi Kanu and three others has begun at the Federal High Court, Abuja.
Kanu, Chidiebere Onwudiwe, Benjamin Madubugwu and David Nwawuisi, who are
on trial for treasonable felony and terrorism were shielded from the public in
the courtroom.
Justice Binta Nyako had on Dec. 13, 2016, ruled that the identity of
witnesses in the matter would be protected but at Tuesday’s sitting, the judge
and parties were all shielded from public view. Nnamdi Kanu leaving the court
today There was also a heavy presence of security personnel within and around
the court premises.
This made it difficult for people, including journalists and relatives of
the defendants to enter the court. The defence team, however, insisted that
each of the defendants was entitled to have four relatives in court during
proceedings.
This led to a short adjournment to enable security operatives allow the
defendants’ relatives into the courtroom. On resumption of proceedings, the
defence counsel informed the court of its pending applications seeking to quash
the charges against the four defendants. Counsel to Kanu, Mr Ifeanyi Ejiofor,
also informed the court of another application challenging the competence of
the charge against the defendants. Ejiofor told the court that the proof of
evidence did not support the charges against his client to warrant his
continual detention.
“The charge does not warrant his detention because there is no case
against him,” he said. Ejiofor also told the court that the Department of State
Services (DSS) were frustrating the efforts of counsel in gaining access to the
defendants.
He also alleged that relatives of the defendants were being continuously
harassed and arrested each time they visited them in prison.
“They (DSS) are clamping down on the innocent citizens. If anything
should happen to me or my family, the DSS should be held responsible,” Ejiofor
said. Nyako cautioned operatives of the DSS against sensationalising the case,
saying that there was nothing special about the four defendants.
According to her, this is a simple criminal case so I do not understand
all the “gra-gra” around it which I see from my CCT camera. She also said that
the defendants should be unhand-cuffed as soon as they arrived the court
premises as the defence team had complained that they were brought into court
in handcuffs. “State operatives should threat the case like any other case.
You cannot break the constitution and still expect to be guided by the
constitution,” Nyako said. She asked the defence team to file a formal
complaint of all the allegations they made and serve the court. The judge also
asked them to quickly serve the court copies of their applications to allow
expeditious hearing. She said that ruling on the applications would determine
whether the case would be terminated or continued. Nyako adjourned the matter
till Jan. 12 to hear the application challenging the competence of the charge
as well as that seeking to quash the case.
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