Stephen Ukandu, Umuahia with Agency Report
A Federal High Court in Abuja, on Monday, fixed March 19 for ruling in the bail application and preliminary objection to his trial commencement filed by Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
Justice Binta Nyako fixed the date after the counsel for the Federal Government, Adegboyega Awomolo (SAN), and that of Kanu, Alloy Ejimakor, adopted their processes and presented their arguments for and against the motions.
At the resumed hearing of the matter, Awomolo told Justice Nyako that the case was coming up for hearing after the decision of the Supreme Court on December 15, 2023.
Awomolo said the apex court affirmed Nyako’s decision of April 8, 2022, by affirming the preservation of counts one, two, three, four, five, eight and 15 of the charge which Kanu pleaded not guilty to.
The senior lawyer said that the Supreme Court ordered the continuation of the hearing on the remaining seven counts out of the earlier 15 counts.
“So we are ready to proceed with the hearing of this matter and it is in the defendant’s interest and everybody’s interest in this country to see to the end of the hearing,” he said.
But the counsel to Kanu, Ejimakor, told the court that he had two motions; an application for bail and a preliminary objection.
He said though he agreed that the Supreme Court directed the continuation of the trial, they were not ready to continue the proceeding.
He urged the court to take the bail application and the preliminary objection for court to decide whichever way, and the prosecution did not object. (NAN)
Kanu has remained in a solitary confinement at the Abuja headquarters of the Department of State Services, DSS, since June 2021 following his extraordinary rendition from Kenya.
There have been clamour for his unconditional release to allow the return of peace to the troubled South East geopolitical zone.
The Archbishop of Umuahia Diocese of the Methodist Church, Archbishop Raphael Opoko, was among the dignitaries spotted at the court in solidarity with Kanu.
