Mrs Binta Nyako, trial judge in the treason case involving the embattled leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mr Nnamdi Kanu, yesterday threatened to adjourn the matter sine die (indefinitely) if the detainee continued to dictate to the court.
The judge issued the threat when Kanu, through his legal team led by Mr Aloy Ejimakor, gave certain conditions before he could stand trial for the treasonable felony charges the federal government preferred against him.
At the resumed hearing of the case at the Federal High Court, Abuja, Kanu said he was prepared to stand trial if was granted bail or transferred from the Department of State Services (SSS) detention facility to either the Abuja prison or be placed under house arrest.
He said he would not oppose the acceleration of his trial once the conditions he enumerated were fulfilled.
The IPOB leader demanded the restoration of the bail that was earlier granted to him by the court.
Ejimakor maintained that the IPOB leaders’ continued detention in the custody of the DSS hampered his client’s ability to effectively prepare his defence to all the allegations leveled against him.
Referencing the cases of Islamic cleric, Sheik El-Zaky Zaky and a former national security adviser, Col Sambo Dasuki (retd) Kanu requested to be put on house arrest to enable him to have unfettered access to his lawyers.
Recall that the court had ordered Kanu’s arrest in March 2019 after adjudging him to have jumped bail.
The arrest order came months after the IPOB leader fled the country in the wake of the invasion of his home by soldiers in Afara-Ukwu, near Umuahia, Abia State, in September 2017.
Kanu was re-arrested in Kenya in June 29, 2021 and repatriated to Nigeria. He has since been in SSS custody in Abuja.
But in his argument on Wednesday, Ejimakor said the court’s revocation of his client’s bail was based on misrepresentation of facts by the Nigerian government.
He insisted that Kanu never breached any of the bail conditions until the soldiers raided his home, killing scores of people.
“We seek the transfer of the defendant from SSS’ detention to a house arrest or other similar places of custody or similar law enforcement agency’s custody.
“My Lord, it is important to do so. The application did not arrive in a vacuum. We made it orally and were directed to put it into writing. We are offering solutions to assist accelerate hearing ordered by the court.
“It is not strange to have a defendant detained in a house arrest. Sambo Dasuki and El-Zaky Zaky enjoyed this in the past,” Ejimakor told the trial judge, Binta Nyako.
Responding to Kanu’s contention, the federal government through its legal team led by Mr Adegboyega Awomolo asked the court to reject the conditions on the grounds that they are frivolous, vexatious, irritating and baseless.
He contended that the trial court had earlier rejected a fresh bail application that was filed by the defendant.
The government argued that since the bail request was dismissed, the trial court longer had the requisite jurisdiction to revisit the matter as it would amount to sitting on appeal to overrule its own decision.
Awomolo maintained that the only option open to Kanu was for him to take the issue before the Court of Appeal.
More so, he argued that it was not in the position of the defendant to dictate how his trial should be conducted or to list conditions the court must met before he would be tried.
After listening to the arguments, Justice Nyako fixed May 20 to rule on the matter.
The judge asked Kanu to choose between having his trial adjourned sine-die (indefinitely) or to allow the government to open its case by calling the first witness.
