The legal team of the leader of the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, has urged the federal government to drop the terrorism charges against him or grant him bail so that he can prepare adequately for his trial.
During a press briefing Wednesday in Abuja, the team that made this call described the hostile conditions in which their client is held at the Department of State Services (DSS) detention facility.
Barrister Aloy Ejimakor, Kanu’s special counsel, urged President Bola Tinubu to either drop the charges or restore Kanu’s bail so that he can adequately prepare for his trial.
“His continued detention at the DSS facility is not conducive as the environment is hostile and unfit for him to prepare for his defence,” Ejimakor said.
The lawyer also explained Kanu’s reason for asking his last trial judge, Justice Binta Nyarko, to recuse herself from the case. According to Ejimakor, Kanu believes his fundamental human right to a fair trial was being denied.
LEADERSHIP recalls that during his last court appearance, Kanu spoke loudly from the dock and told the trial judge to hand off the case because she disobeyed a Supreme Court decision in his favour.
Another Kanu legal team member, Barrister Nnaemeka Ejiofor, said the IPOB leader’s action was not out of disrespect to the court but purely to exercise his right as prescribed in the country’s constitution.
Another lawyer in the team, Barrister Jude Ugwanyi, attributed the lack of peace in Nigeria in general and the south-east in particular to the continued denial of bail Kanu.
Ugwuanyi said the insecurity in the southeast has claimed younger brother Samson Ugwanyi, a final year law student who was brutally murdered.
LEADERSHIP recalls that a few weeks ago, Kanu’s lawyers had urged President Bola Tinubu to meet face-to-face with the IPOB leader to resolve the ongoing matter in the nation’s best interest.
