Protests by lawyers defending the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), halted Kanu’s resumed trial before Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court in Abuja on Wednesday.
Kanu is on trial on an amended seven-count criminal charge that includes allegations of terrorism and treasonable felony.
He pleaded not guilty to the charges read to him last month, and as a result, Justice Nyako adjourned the case until November 10 to hear Kanu’s application challenging the competence of the charge as well as the Court’s jurisdiction to hear the case.
Despite the fact that Kanu was brought into the courtroom at 9:52 a.m., the day’s proceedings were halted due to Kanu’s lawyer’s walkout.
The walkout was precipitated by the refusal of Department of State Services (DSS) operatives to allow some of the entry into the courtroom.
Kanu himself bemoaned the refusal of security agents to allow some members of his legal team, particularly his lawyer from the United States of America, Bruce Fein, to enter the courtroom as soon as his case was called up.
Mr. Fein, according to the defendant, is already handling a case for him in the United States and was present at his trial.
“I have an ongoing case in the United States.” I was not permitted to see him. He’s come to see me and to watch the proceedings.
“He went to the DSS to see me, but they refused him access,” Kanu said from the dock.
However, when Justice Nyako asked if he was willing to conduct the proceedings himself in the absence of his lawyers, the IPOB leader said no
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Responding, the prosecuting counsel, Mr. Mohammed Abubakar, urged the court to proceed with the trial in Kanu’s absence, explaining that the day’s proceedings were for the hearing of an application filed by Kanu.
Abubakar argued that Kanu’s pending application should be dismissed because his lead counsel, Mr. Ifeanyi Ejiofor, who was initially present in the courtroom, walked out with his team shortly before the arrival of the judge.
In response, Justice Nyako issued a brief ruling in which she declined to dismiss the pending application but instead adjourned the case until January 19 and 20, 2022, for trial.
She did, however, express her displeasure with Kanu’s lawyers’ behavior.
