ABUJA – The Chief Judge of Nigeria’s Federal High Court in the capital Abuja, Justice John Tsoho, has reassigned the case against Nnamdi Kanu, the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, (IPOB), to another judge for trial.
Kanu, who has been in detention since 2021 when his bail was revoked, is facing a seven-count treasonable felony charge the federal government preferred against him.
On February 10, Justice Binta Nyako, who hitherto presided over the case, adjourned it indefinitely following the IPOB leader’s insistence that she must hand off his trial on grounds of bias and a previous ruling that recused her from the case.
Even though the Chief Judge initially dismissed Kanu’s contention and directed Justice Nyako to continue the case, the defence counsel, Mr A
Kanu’s special counsel, Aloy Ejimakor, in a Saturday statement, revealed that his client’s request has been finally granted.
While expressing Kanu’s readiness to face his trial so as to establish his innocence, Ejimakor commended the Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN, Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, for her quick intervention.
“Yesterday (Friday) before the legal team conducted our routine visitation to Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, we received two separate official letters regarding his case. The letters are momentous and somewhat pyrrhic,” said the statement.
“One letter was from the Honourable Chief Justice of Nigeria, responding to a recent letter we had written to her, seeking her prompt administrative intervention (as the administrative head of the Nigerian judiciary) on the matter of a proper and lawful reassignment of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s case, following the recusal of the judge that was conducting it.
“The other letter was from the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, informing us that the case has been reassigned to another Judge of the Federal High Court.
“Consequent upon these latest developments, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu instructed the legal team to publicly convey his sincere gratitude to the Chief Justice of Nigeria for her sound administrative discretion and the despatch with which she responded to our request.
“He also expressed his profound appreciation to members of the general public who publicly expressed their support of our righteous demands that Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s case be reassigned to another judge, as the law demands.
“To be sure, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu has always been ready to take his trial because he is firmly convinced of his innocence. But the perverse events of the past six months (from September 2024, when the recusal happened) posed portent dangers to his constitutional rights, particularly his right to a fair and speedy hearing.
“It was in view of these untoward developments that we were propelled to resort to taking extraordinary measures to ensure that his case is properly reassigned and conducted in accordance with the law.
“So, now that the first steps have been taken by the authorities to do the lawful thing, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and his legal team shall take stock and hunker down to the zealous preparation of his defence.”
However, Ejimakor did not reveal the name of the new judge the case has been assigned to.
Kanu is facing trial on terrorism charges levelled against him by immediate former President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration over his call and agitation for a sovereign state of Biafra. He pleaded not guilty to all charges.
His initial arrest in 2015 triggered protests by his supporters. In 2017, Justice Binta Nyako of a Federal High Court in Abuja granted Kanu bail.
Upon his release, a military invasion of his ancestral home in Umuahia, Abia State, in September 2017, forced him into exile, hence he did not attend his trial on the next scheduled date and thereafter. From then till June 2021 when he was abducted from Kenya and was subjected to “extraordinary rendition”, and brought back to Nigeria by former President Buhari’s government, there has been a robust public debate as to whether he jumped bail or not.
But an Appeal Court had discharged and acquitted Kanu of all terrorism charges, the judgment was later overturned by the Supreme Court which transferred the case back to the Federal High Court.
While deciding the appeal, the Supreme Court, on December 15, 2023, vacated the judgement of the appellate court and gave the Federal government the nod to try the IPOB leader on the subsisting seven-count charge.
Kanu, who holds a UK passport, has remained in prison, despite the Appeal Court ordering his release in October 2022 after ruling that he had been illegally arrested abroad.
In January 2024, Kanu’s attorney, Aloy Ejimakor clarified that the Supreme Court had settled the controversy on whether Kanu jumped bail or not.
The attorney said the Supreme Court also clarified that Kanu’s bail “should not have been revoked”. In the Certified True Copy (CTC) of the judgment delivered in December 2023, the apex court declared that Kanu did not jump bail.
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