Court Adjourns Nnamdi Kanu’s Trial As Lawyers Stage Walk Out

Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court in Abuja on Wednesday adjourned the trial of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) Nnamdi Kanu to January 19.

Justice Nyako adjourned the case after Kanu’s team of lawyers, staged a walk out over the refusal of operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) to allow some of them access into the courtroom.

The IPOB leader, who was brought into the courtroom around 9:52 am, had shortly after his case was called up, decried the refusal of security agents to allow some members of his legal team, especially his lawyer from the United States of America, Bruce Fein, to enter the courtroom.

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

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.

Reacting to the development, the prosecutor, Mohamed 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 a hearing of an application that was filed by the defendant.

The lawyer argued that since Kanu’s lead counsel, Ifeanyi Ejiofor, 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 her displeasure over the conduct of Kanu’s lawyers but she refused to dismiss the pending application.

She has adjourned the case to January 19 and 20, 2022, for trial.