Headlines
Abaribe in view as court begins Nnmadi Kanu’s trial in absentia
BY NICHOLAS ABE
A Federal High Court in Abuja is set to begin the trial of leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, in his absence.
A hearing notice from the court scheduled the case for November 26 during which five prosecution witnesses will testify against Kanu.
The notice has been reportedly served on the federal government’s prosecution team and Ifeanyi Ejiofor, the defendant’s counsel, according to Vanguard.
Kanu is facing charges bordering on treasonable felony instituted against him in response to years of campaign for the sovereign state of Biafra, through IPOB.
He was granted bail in April 2017 for health reasons, but skipped his bail after allegedly flouting all the conditions given to him by the court.
Owing to his absence in court, Binta Nyako, the judge who granted him bail, revoked it and ordered that he should be arrested.
But Kanu’s lawyer argued that the accused left the country because of the invasion of his family’s residence in Abia State by soldiers, during a military exercise.
He prayed the court to restore the bail to enable the defendant return to Nigeria for trial, but the judge did not accede to the request.
Meanwhile, the court notice is raising apprehension over the fate of the outspoken Senate Minority Leader, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe (PDP, Abia South), who stood surety for Kanu, to fulfil his bail condition.
The concern for Abaribe is with regard to the current ordeal of another senator, Ali Ndume, who has spent two straight nights at the Kuje Prison, Abuja, due to his inability to produce Abdulrasheed Maina, chairman of the defunct Pensions Fund Task Team, who is standing trial for alleged N24 billion pension fund fraud.
READ: MASSOB says Igbo will resist attempt to arrest Abaribe over Nnamdi Kanu
Ndume stood surety for Maina while also taking up a N500 million bail bond for the accused.
Following his disappearance from the court and his lawyers and Ndume failing to account for his whereabouts, Justice Okon Abang of a Federal High Court, Abuja, ordered the revocation of his bail and arrest.
Abang, subsequently ordered the remand of Senator Ndume at the Kuje Correctional Centre, until the forfeiture of the N500 million bail bond he deposited for Maina, to the Federal Government.
Another lawmaker, a member of the House of Representatives, Umar Sani Dan Galadima, is also on the verge of being thrown into jail, on account of standing as a guarantor to Maina’s son, Faisal, who was also granted bail by Abang but now on the run from the court.
Galadima now has nine days, from Wednesday, to produce Faisal Maina or be sent to prison until he forfeits a N60 million bail bond he took on behalf of the accused, according to a ruling by Abang.
However, a group of lawyers who spoke to RELIABLESOURCENG.COM has described the conditions under which the two Mainas and Kanu jumped bail as “totally different”.
The group which spoke on the point of anonymity said whereas the Mainas have no real basis for jumping bail, Kanu was practically chased out when, less than a month to his appearance in court, armed military men evaded his home in Afara-Ukwu, Umuahia, Abia State, in an operation and he had to flee for his life.
“Had Kanu not been threatened by the military onslaught, he probably would have been available to keep his date in court. It is therefore preposterous for anyone to want to hold Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe liable for his absence in court,” the group contended.
It added: “In any case, Kanu’s bail was not a private or personal arrangement between him and Abaribe. It was a collective decision of the Igbo, who presented Abaribe, a ranking senator of the Federal Republic, as a requirement for the bail condition by the court.”