The trial of the detained leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu was on Monday adjourned indefinitely by the Federal High Court in Abuja over his absence in court.
Court Adjourns Nnamdi Kanu’s Trial Indefinitely
Kanu is standing trial of amended seven counts of terrorism filed against him by the Federal Government.
Justice Binta Nyako put off the trial sine die at the instance of Kanu pending the resolution of the Federal Government’s appeal against the October 13 judgment of the Court of Appeal that discharged him from the terrorism charges.
The Federal Government’s appeal which seeks to reverse the judgement of the appellate court is pending before the Supreme Court.
The federal government’s team of prosecutors led by the Director of Public Prosecution, Mr. M.B. Abubakar, informed the court that Kanu refused to present himself before it for his planned re-arraignment.
“My lord, I understand that the defendant declined to come to court today.
“As of last week, the defendant was intimated of this sitting and he did not object. However, when I called the office this morning, I was informed that the defendant woke up and declined to come to court.
“All entreaties and pleas were made but he refused to come to court”, the government lawyer told the court.
On its part, Kanu’s legal team, however, said the allegation was strange as Kanu had never hidden his intention to always be in court.
“My lord, this is totally strange to me because this is a person that has never hidden his intention to always be in court. Even in processes we filed at both the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court, the defendant said he would want to be present in court for hearing of all the matters,” Kanu’s legal team head, Mike Ozekhome said.
Recall that Kanyi Daily reported that Nnamdi Kanu had approached the Supreme Court to appeal the stay of execution judgement.
