The amended six-count treasonable felony charge by the Federal Government preferred against the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu has been struck out.
The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, on Wednesday, struck out the charge, after it was withdrawn by the Prosecution counsel, Mr. K. E. Kaswe.
The charge against Kanu was withdrawn by Kaswe, who is from the Federal Ministry of Justice, after Kanu’s team of lawyers led by Chief Mike Ozekhome, SAN, accused FG of deliberately frustrating the speedy determination of the case.
Ozekhome explained that the amended charge was served on him, barely 48 hours to the court proceeding, noting that FG introduced fresh issues in the amended charge, including additional documents and proof of evidence that was not originally attached to the case.
“My lord, in one of the attachments, pictures of lawyers waiting to have a meeting with the defendant at the DSS facility, were snapped with secret camera and displayed.
“Names of his lawyers- Ifeanyi Ejiofor and Maxwell Opara- were also mentioned. They have brought new issues and even changed the wordings of the charge. The fact that the court sustained only seven counts in the previous charge and the have now reduced it to six counts, means that the charge has already been altered”, Ozekhome submitted.
Açcording to Ozekhome, it was wrong for the Prosecution to insist on proceeding with trial, without firstly rearraigning the defendant.
Owing to Ozekhome’s contention, FG’s lawyer, Kaswe, applied to withdraw the amended charge to enable the matter to proceed on trial.
Meanwhile, Kaswe informed the court that his first witness was available and ready to testify.
Justice Nyako, hereby struck out the charge.
The court on Wednesday, also refused to admit Nnamdi Kanu, to bail.
Justice Nyako, in his ruling, held that since Kanu was earlier granted bail in 2017 and jumped the bail, the court must first determine the real reason he jumped the bail before applying for another one as she dismissed Kanu’s application for bail.
It would be recalled 15 counts filed against the leader of the proscribed IPOB had earlier been trashed in April.
Kanu was accused of various offences in the 15 counts, including treasonable felony and terrorism, offences he allegedly committed in the course of his separatist campaigns.
But the judge, Binta Nyako, struck out eight of the charges in her ruling on Mr Kanu’s preliminary objection challenging the validity of the charges.
Nyako ruled that Counts 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, and 14 were incompetent for not disclosing any valid offences against the defendant.
