Kanu’s lawyers stage walkout, as court adjourns trial to Jan 19

TRIAL of Nnamdi Kanu, the self-acclaimed leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), for treasonable felony, scheduled for Wednesday, could not continue as the defence lawyers walked out of court before the arrival of the judge. 

Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court, Abuja, on arrival at the courtroom, found that the defence lawyers who were to argue their objection to the charge had left, and she adjourned the trial till January 19. 

The defence team had staged a walkout over the refusal of operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) to allow some of them access into the courtroom. 

Kanu, who was brought into the courtroom around 9:52 a.m., had shortly after his case was called up, bemoaned the refusal of security agents to allow some members of his legal team, particularly his lawyer from the United States, Bruce Fein, to enter the courtroom. 

The IPOB leader told the court that Mr Fein, who he said was handling a case for him in the US, was around to witness his trial. 

“I have an ongoing case in the US. I have not been allowed to see him. He is here to see me and to observe the proceedings. 

“He has been to the DSS to see me, but they denied him access to me,” Kanu stated from the dock. When asked by the judge if he was ready to conduct the proceedings himself, in the absence of his lawyers, Kanu replied in the negative. 

The judge also asked to know how Ms Heather Wilkir, a representative of a British Council, got to the courtroom. 

Wilkir said the Council wrote the Chief Judge, a reply to which Justice Nyako said the procedure adopted was not correct. 

According to her, “Chief Judge is Court 1 and Justice Binta Nyako is Court 2 and letters seeking permission should be addressed to this court.” 

Counsel for the Federal Government, Mr Mohammed D. Abubakar, who is the Director of Public Prosecution, urged the court to proceed with the trial in the absence of Kanu’s lawyers. Abubakar told the court that ordinarily, the matter was fixed for hearing of an application that was filed by the defendant. 

He argued that since Kanu’s lead counsel, Mr Ifeanyi Ejio- for, who was initially inside the courtroom, walked out with his team shortly before the arrival of the judge, his pending application should be deemed abandoned. 

In a short ruling, Justice Nyako expressed displeasure over the conduct of Kanu’s lawyers and declined to dismiss the pending application but rather adjourned the case till January 19 and 20, 2022 for trial. 

Explaining his action after the adjournment, lead counsel for the defence team, Ifeanyi Ejiofor said they went on a protest because “lawyers in his team were blocked from entering the court. We are dissatisfied about what is playing out.” 

Meanwhile, two groups of supporters demonstrated outside the court premises on Wednesday. 

A group of Kanu supporters, numbering over 300 people, demanded Kanu’s release while another group, an anti-Kanu group, numbering over 500, alleged that IPOB killed Ahmed Gulak and so Kanu should remain in detention

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