….declines to transfer him to Kuje prison
…as IPOB leader gives reason for violence in South East
The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, on Tuesday, dismissed the fresh application the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu, filed to be released on bail, pending the determination of the treasonable felony charge the Federal Government preferred against him.
Rather, trial Justice Binta Nyako ordered accelerated hearing of FG’s seven-count charge against him.
The ruling came on a day the embattled IPOB leader pleaded the court to transfer him from custody of the Department of State Services, DSS, to Kuje prison, or in the alternative, place him on a house arrest.
Kanu equally gave reasons why violence has continued to fester in the South East region, saying he would have been able to tackle those using the name of IPOB to commit crimes, had it been he is not in detention.
Kanu had in the application he filed through his team of lawyers led by Mr. Alloy Ejimakor, on February 5, prayed the court to grant him bail on “most liberal terms” owing to his deteriorating health.
Ejimakor argued that there was no dispute that the IPOB leader has a serious health condition that was confirmed by federal government owned hospital.
Specifically, he disclosed that series of tests that were conducted on Kanu, showed that he was suffering from hypertension and acute heart disease.
“Our humble submission is that the medical condition of the defendant speaks for itself and the health challenge persists, despite the treatment offered him by the detaining authority,” Ejimako added.
He maintained that Kanu’s continued detention by the DSS, posed a threat to his life, adding that freeing the defendant on bail would enable him to effectively prepare his defence to the charge.
Besides, Ejimakor alleged that the seeming delay in the prosecution of the case was the fault of the government which he said had repeatedly amended the charge.
On the court’s observation that Kanu once jumped bail, Ejimakor argued that the development had become academic in view of findings and judgements of various courts on the issue.
On its part, FG’s lawyer, Chief Adegboyega Awomolo, SAN, opposed the bail application, insisting that there was no guarantee that Kanu would make himself available for trial, once released from detention.
Awomolo, SAN, told the court that the security agency had been diligent in protecting Kanu’s life.
According to the prosecution counsel, Section 161 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, stipulated that the defendant must prove that the authorities failed to grant him access to quality healthcare at his detention center.
The senior lawyer further contended that there was nothing tangible that was brought before the court to establish an exceptional circumstance that would warrant Kanu’s release on bail.
He said the court had earlier revoked the defendant’s bail after he violated the conditions attached to it.
“There is no evidence before the court that Kanu will not jump bail again,” Awomolo insisted.
In her ruling on Tuesday, Justice Nyako held that since her court had earlier refused a similar bail application by Kanu, the only option open to him was to appeal against that decision.
She held that it was legally wrong for the defendant to re-approach the trial court with the same request, instead of taking the matter before the appellate court.
Meanwhile, dissatisfied with the ruling, Kanu, on Tuesday, addressed the court from the dock, insisting that he has a very serious health condition that could not be handled in his present detention center at the DSS.
He said the agency lacked the medical facilities required for his treatment.
Kanu told the court that his ailment has to do with the heart, a situation he said has started manifesting in his physical appearance, especially his feet.
Besides, he decried that the security agency had continued to restrict his visitors from having access to him.
Speaking from the dock, Kanu alleged a conspiracy to allow him to die in custody of the secret police.
He said: “People will come to see me they will not allow them. They don’t have the medical facility. I have congestive heart failure, they are patching me up.
“My foot is swollen. I asked them to conduct surgery and they said they can’t.
“There is a conspiracy for me to die in detention. I want to be transfered to Kuje,” he told the court.
Responding, Justice Nyako said she was not willing to transfer the defendant to prison custody.
“The law says I can keep you anywhere I think is safe for you. So, if I make an order and it is not adhered to, you have to come back to me.
“We had over 15 terrorists that escaped from there. I don’t have confidence in Kuje prison,” the judge added.
Not deterred, Kanu prayed the court to order that he should be placed on house arrest.
“My lord, since you don’t want me to go to Kuje, order that I should be placed on house arrest. That is done everywhere in the world.
“I want to adequately plan for my defence. I will defeat them in this same court! Where are the treason felony charges against me?
“They don’t have any evidence against me. From where did the terrorism charges come from?,” he queried.
Justice Nyako directed him to put his demand in writing, even as she adjourned the matter till April 17.
Meantime, while stepping out of the courtroom, Kanu used the opportunity to speak on the recurring violence in the South East, blaming it on his continued detention.Kanu said it was unfortunate that some criminal elements have been hiding under the banner of the IPOB to carry out nefarious activities in the region.
Vowing that those behind the violence in the name of IPOB would not be spared once he is out of detntion, Kanu, said: “Anybody committing crime cannot go free. I swear it!
“Anybody committing crime in the east cannot go free. They are doing it because I am in the DSS. If I were to be outside, nobody can try this.
“I suspect that some people in government are complicit. They are making money with the insecurity.
“They know if Nnamdi Kanu is outside, in two minutes this nonsense will stop.
“Who is the bagger or idiot that will speak when I am talking. That I will give an order in the East who is the idiot that I will give an order that will counter it? Nobody can! I am Nnamdi Kanu. Rubbish!
“Anybody involved in any form of violence in the East in the name of IPOB is a goner and they know it.
“Let me come out of this mess, only two minutes there will be peace in the East,” the visibly irked Kanu bellowed, before he was led away by DSS operatives.
It will be recalled that Kanu who was first arrested in Lagos on October 14, 2015, has been in detention since June 29, 2021.
Trial Justice Nyako had on April 25, 2017, granted him bail on health ground, after he had spent about 18 months in detention.
Upon the perfection of the bail conditions, he was on April 28, 2017, released from the Kuje prison.
However, midway into the trial, the IPOB leader escaped from the country after soldiers invaded his country home at Afara Ukwu Ibeku in Umuahia, Abia State, an operation that led to the death of some of his followers.
Kanu was later re-arrested in Kenya on June 19, 2021 and extraordinarily renditioned back to the country by security agents on June 27, 2021.
Following the development, the trial court, on June 29, 2021, remanded him in custody of DSS, where he remained till date.
On April 8, 2022, the court struck out eight out of the 15-count charge that FG preferred against him on the premise that they lacked substance.
Likewise, the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal, on October 13, 2022, ordered Kanu’s immediate release from detention even as it quashed the charge against him.
The appellate court said it was satisfied that FG flagrantly violated all known laws, when it forcefully rendered Kanu from Kenya to the country for the continuation of his trial.
It held that such arbitrary use of power by the Nigerian government, divested the trial court of the jurisdiction to further try the Appellant.
Dissatisfied with the decision, FG took the matter before the Supreme Court, even as it persuaded the appellate court to suspend the execution of the judgement, pending the determination of its appeal.
While deciding the appeal, the Supreme Court, on December 15, 2023, vacated the judgement of the appellate court and gave FG the nod to try the IPOB leader on the subsisting seven-count charge.
Justice Nyako had earlier expressed her displeasure over how the trial had been conducted since 2015.
“This is exactly the way this case has been going since 2015. I am talking to both sides. You always find a way to truncate the proceedings,” the trial judge fumed.