Court orders Nnamdi Kanu to appear for his resumed trial

The Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) to appear before it for his resumed trial.

This was contained in a hearing notice signed by the court registrar.

The hearing notice, dated 22 January 2025, was addressed to Mr Kanu’s special counsel, Aloy Ejimakor.

Mr Ejimakor also shared a copy of the notice on his X handle on Friday.

Mr Kanu, who is facing terrorism charges at the court, has been in detention since he was repatriated to Nigeria from Kenya in June 2021 under controversial circumstances.

IPOB is a group leading the agitation for an independent state of Biafra, which it wants carved out from the South-east and some parts of South-south Nigeria.

Hearing notice

The court said in the hearing notice that the case between the Nigerian Government and Mr Kanu will be heard on Monday.

“This case will be transferred from the general cause list to the hearing paper for Monday, the 10th day of February 2025, at 9:00 a.m. in the forenoon and will come on to be heard on that day if the business of the court permits, or otherwise on some adjournment day of which you will receive no further notice,” the notice read.

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Lawyer reacts

In a post on the micro-blogging platform on Friday, Mr Ejimakor said he and other members of Mr Kanu’s legal team discussed the notice of hearing received from the court with the IPOB leader.

The special counsel said the discussion took place when the legal team visited the IPOB leader at the State Security Service (SSS) facility on Friday.

“We shall appear with a bated breath,” he said of the scheduled court hearing.

Recusal of judge

The hearing notice did not indicate if the case would still be handled by Justice Binta Nyako.

During the court’s last hearing on 24 September 2024, Mr Kanu requested that Mrs Nyako recuse herself from the matter, accusing the judge of bias.

The judge subsequently announced her withdrawal from the matter, but the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court later reassigned the matter to Mrs Nyako.

Since then, Mr Kanu and his team of lawyers have repeatedly opposed Justice Nyako from presiding over the case.

The IPOB leader has continued to argue that Justice Nyako, having recused herself, can no longer preside over the case.

He said Mrs Nyako’s order recusing herself from the case “remains valid because it has not been set aside by any competent court order.”

Last month, Mr Kanu asked that his case be transferred to the South-east if no other judge at the Federal High Court in Abuja was willing to preside over it.

Background

Mr Kanu was first arrested in 2015 under the administration of former Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari.

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The Court of Appeal, Abuja, on 13 October 2022, held that the IPOB leader was extraordinarily renditioned to Nigeria and that the action was a flagrant violation of the country’s extradition treaty and also a breach of his fundamental human rights.

The court, therefore, struck out the terrorism charges filed against Mr Kanu by the Nigerian government and ordered his release from the SSS facility.

But the government refused to release the IPOB leader, insisting that he (Kanu) could be unavailable in subsequent court proceedings if released and that his release would cause insecurity in the South-east, where he comes from.

The government, through the office of the Attorney-General of the Federation, later appealed the court ruling and subsequently obtained an order staying the execution of the court judgement at the Supreme Court.

Delivering judgement on the appeal on 15 December 2023, the Supreme Court reversed the acquittal granted to Mr Kanu by the lower court and consequently ordered the continuation of his trial at the Federal High Court Abuja.