Biafra: Kanu Returns To Court On Oct 17
The Federal High Court, Abuja, on Tuesday fixed October 17, 2017 to commence hearing into the treasonable felony charge preferred against the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, by the Federal Government.
The IPOB leader is being prosecuted alongside three other pro-Biafra agitators, Chidiebere Onwudiwe, Benjamin Madubugwu and David Nwawuisi. The shift in trial is not unconnected the annual vacation of the court.
The prosecution had in the charge marked, FHC/ABJ/CR/383/2015, accused Kanu of conspiring with his co-defendant and others, now at large “on diverse dates in 2014 and 2915, in Nigeria and London, to broadcast on Radio Biafra monitored in Enugu and other areas, preparations for states in the South-East and South-South zones and other communities in Kogi and Benue states, to secede from the Federal Republic of Nigeria, with a view to constituting same into a Republic of Biafra. The defendants were said to have committed an offence punishable under section 41(c) of the Criminal Code Act, CAP. C38 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.”
Though trial Justice Binta Nyako had on April 25 granted bail to Kanu, after spending a year and seven months in detention, the court, however, directed that his co-defendants remain in prison custody.
Justice Nyako said her decision to release Kanu, who is the 1st defendant on bail, was on health ground. She cited an affidavit that was attached to a bail application Kanu filed through his lawyer, Mr. Ifeanyi Ejiofor. However, the IPOB leader was compelled to produce three sureties, including “a Jewish leader” and a “highly placed person of Igbo extraction”, who all deposited N100 million each before he was granted temporary freedom by the court. He was formally released to Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, a Jewish High Chief Priest, Immanuu-El Shalom and a Chartered Accountant residing in Abuja, Mr. Tochukwu Uchendu, on April 28.
As part of his conditions for bail, Kanu was expressly barred by the court from attending any rally or granting any form of interview.
“I must stress it here that the defendant must not attend any rally. He must not be in a crowd exceeding 10 persons”, the Judge warned.
