The detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, has by proxy said his trial is political rather than legal and judicial.
Kanu alleged this through his lawyers led by Aloy Ejimakor, Esq,.
Ejimakor stated this on Thursday during a press briefing in Abuja, saying his client’s trial is a persecution and state-sanctioned extra judicial detention.
The defence lawyers noted that since asking the trial judge, Justice Binta Nyako, to recuse herself from the trial for violating a decision of the Supreme Court over his alleged jumping of bail and alleged indifference to the violation of the defendant’s fundamental human rights, they have not been served with any letter reassigning of the case to another judge.
The lawyers further noted that the federal government had violated all orders made by local and international courts on the alleged violation of the rights of Kanu and his supporters, while the Court of Appeal had delayed three appeals for the reinstatement of his bail as ordered by the Supreme Court.
They pointed to some of the actions that have taken place since the trial in 2015 to include the military invasion of his home on September 10, 2017, the proscription of IPOB on September 20, 2017, his illegal rendition from Kenya and the regular amendment of the charges.
While arguing that the refusal of Kanu’s bail despite the decision of the Supreme Court, makes the impartiality of the trial court suspect, they asked, “do you expect Mazi Nnamdi Kanu to subject himself to a trial by a judge against whom the Supreme Court of Nigeria has found to be biased and who is not ready to change?”
