The leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, has appealed the verdict of the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja that he remain at the facilities of the Department of State Services rather than at the custody of the Nigerian Correctional Centre during his trial.
According to him, such amounted to the violation of his fundamental human rights.
Recall that Justice Binta Nyako on March 19th, 2024, ruled against Kanu’s request to be moved to Kuje prison or the Abia State House in Abuja.
Kanu’s lead counsel, Barr Aloy Ejimakor, had prayed the court to grant Kanu’s request to enable his team of lawyers to have unhindered access to him ahead of his defence. The federal government’s lawyer, Ademoyega Awomolo, SAN, had countered the request, claiming that Kanu would jump bail.
Kanu, through Ejimakor, is also seeking the Appeal Court to set aside the High Court’s ruling to accelerate his trial, averring that such was against the rule of law.
In the charge number FHC/ABJ/CR/383/2015, Kanu wants the trial court “to decline jurisdiction to proceed with the hearing of the case unless and until he is granted his right to fair hearing under Section 36(6)(6)(b) and (c) of the Constitution; or in the alternative for the trial court to order an alternative custodial or non-custodial arrangement free of interference with his said constitutional right to fair hearing.”
Kanu is also asking the appeal court to “Set aside the order for accelerated hearing of the case in the circumstances of the case where he is not allowed facilities to prepare for the defence of the charges against him and denied his right to counsel.”
Other reliefs sought are: “Staying the proceedings pending when the respondent affords him the constitutional safeguards of being afforded adequate facilities to prepare for his defence and his unfettered right to counsel.”
The suit has the federal government as the respondent.
Among the grounds of the appeal is for the court to order the respondent to “stop the unconstitutional acts of forcibly seizing and photocopying confidential legal documents brought to the appellant by the appellant’s lawyers meant for the appellant’s defence of the charges against him.”
Kanu is being tried over alleged jumping bail, treason and running a proscribed group. He was renditioned from Kenya to Nigeria in 2021, and had since then been in the custody of the DSS in Abuja.