Akinwande Soji-Ojo
The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, on Monday, dismissed the bail application of the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu.
The trial judge, Justice Binta Nyako, also refused Kanu’s plea to be transferred from the custody of the Department of States Services (DSS) to prison or be placed under house arrest.
Kanu is standing trial on a seven-count charge bordering on treasonable felony preferred against him by the federal government.
In the fresh bail application, Kanu had asked the court to restore his bail, which was revoked in 2017.
In the alternative, he asked to be moved from the custody of the DSS and placed under house arrest, or to be remanded in prison.
The defendant said contrary to the federal government’s claim, he did not jump bail or breach any of the conditions of the 2017 bail, but had to flee the country when soldiers allegedly invaded his house in Abia State.
He told the court that he would have been killed if he had not escaped the way he did, and accused the federal government of misleading the court in getting the bail revoked.
Kanu also asked the court to set aside the arrest warrant issued against him by the court while he was out of the country.
He also alleged that he does not get proper medical services in DSS custody and he is unable to properly prepare for his defence due to restricted access to his lawyers.
While delivering her ruling, Justice Nyako, held that she found as a fact that Kanu jumped bail when he was earlier granted, adding that the same request had been brought before her by the defendant and it was dismissed for lacking in merit.
The judge also held that the sureties who stood for him in the earlier bail had applied to be discharged and had been discharged on the ground that they could not locate Kanu and did not know his whereabouts, a development that forced the court to order the forfeiture of their N100 million bail bonds.
According to the trial court, the issue is currently pending before the court of appeal.
The court held that having refused Kanu’s request for bail on several occasions, the only option available to him was to take the matter before the appellate court.
However, the judge ordered the DSS to always grant Kanu access to his lawyers, not exceeding five persons on every visiting day.
It ordered that Kanu must be given “a clean place” to consult with his lawyers at the DSS detention facility, adding that he must be granted access to a doctor of his choice.
Nyako warned that any attempt by Kanu’s legal team to file similar applications before the court would be regarded as a gross abuse of the judicial process.
“You have an option of appeal, please exercise your right of appeal,” the trial judge added.
