… As CJ re-assigns his case file to another judge
From Godwin Tsa Abuja
The Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice John Tsoho, has reassigned the case of Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) to another judge.
Consequently, the detained IPOB leader has expressed his readiness to earnestly prepare for his defence.
This was disclosed by his lead counsel, Aloy Ejimakor, in a statement issued yesterday, where he said that his client is ready to face his trial because he is convinced of his innocence
The tatement reads: “Yesterday, before the legal team conducted our routine visitation to Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, we received two separate official letters regarding his case. The letters are momentous and somewhat pyrrhic.
“One letter was from the Honourable Chief Justice of Nigeria, responding to a recent letter we had written to her, seeking her prompt administrative intervention (as the administrative head of Nigerian judiciary) on the matter of a proper and lawful reassignment of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s case, following the recusal of the Judge that was conducting it.
“The other letter was from the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, informing us that the case has been reassigned to another Judge of the Federal High Court.
“Consequent upon these latest developments, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu instructed the legal team to publicly convey his sincere gratitudes to the Chief Justice of Nigeria for her sound administrative discretions and the despatch with which she responded to our request.
:He also expressed his profound appreciations to members of the general public who publicly expressed their support to our righteous demands that Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s case be reassigned to another Judge, as the law demands.
“To be sure, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu has always been ready to take his trial because he is firmly convinced of his innocence. But the perverse events of the past six months (from September 2024, when the recusal happened) posed portent dangers to his constitutional rights, particularly his right to fair and speedy hearing.
“It was in view of these untoward developments that we were propelled to resort to taking extraordinary measures to ensure that his case is properly reassigned and conducted in accordance with the law.
“So, now that the first steps have been taken by the authorities to do the lawful thing, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and his legal team shall take stock and hanker down to the zealous preparation of his defense.”
The legal travails, judgments, twist, drama
The trial of the detained leaders of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, commenced after he was first arrested in Lagos on October 14, 2015, by operatives of the Department of State Services, upon his return to the country from the United Kingdom.
Though he was first arraigned before an Abuja Chief Magistrate Court on November 23, 2015 for charges of “criminal conspiracy, intimidation and membership of an illegal organization”, by the DSS, his trial later shifted to the Abuja division of the Federal High Court, where he was arraigned on an 11-count charge alongside three other pro-Biafra agitators, Chidiebere Onwudiwe, Benjamin Madubugwu and David Nwawuisi.
Kanu gets bail
On April 25, 2017, Justice Murtala Binta-Nyako granted him bail on health grounds after he had spent about 18 months in detention.
To secure Kanu’s release, Senator Abaribe, Uchendu and a Jewish High Priest, Emmanu El- Salom Oka BenMadu, on April 28, 2016, signed an undertaking to ensure his attendance in court with a N100 million bail bond.
Upon the perfection of the bail conditions, he was, on April 28, 2017, released from the Kuje prison. Before that, the charges were amended by the Federal government from 11 to15 counts.
Kanu’s disappearance
However, midway into the trial, the IPOB leader escaped from the country after soldiers invaded his country home at Afara Ukwu Ibeku in Umuahia, Abia State, an operation that led to the death of some of his followers.
Following his disappearance, the Federal High Court on Thursday March 28, 2019, presided over by Justice Murtala Binta-Nyako revoked his bail and issued a bench warrant for his arrest.
Placing reliance on Section 352(4) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, ACJA, 2015, the court, said it would go ahead to try Kanu in absentia.
Justice Nyako said the order was informed by the inability of Kanu’s lawyer, Mr. Ifeanyi Ejiofor, to give “cogent, compelling and verifiable reason” why his client repeatedly failed to appear in court to answer to the charges the Federal Government preferred against him.
Kanu re-arrested in Kenya
Kanu, who has dual citizenship – Nigeria and Britain – had since been reportedly sighted at various locations outside the country, including Jerusalem and the United Kingdom.
He was, however, later re-arrested in Kenya on June 19, 2021, and extraordinarily renditioned back to the country by security agents on June 27, 2021 in a manner that triggered both legal and political controversy.
Following the development, the trial court, on June 29, 2021, remanded him in the custody of DSS, where he remained till date.
On April 8, 2022, the court struck out eight out of the 15-count charge that the Federal Government preferred against him on the premise that they lacked substance.
In similar manner, the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal, on October 13, 2022, ordered Kanu’s immediate release from detention even as it quashed the charge against him.
Dissatisfied with the decision, the Federal Government took the matter before the Supreme Court, even as it persuaded the appellate court to suspend the execution of the judgment, pending the determination of its appeal.
While deciding the appeal, the Supreme Court, on December 15, 2023, vacated the judgment of the appellate court and gave the Federal Government the nod to try the IPOB leader on the subsisting seven-count charge.
Court denies Kanu fresh bail
On May 20, 2024, Justice Nyako dismissed a fresh application by Nnamdi Kanu, seeking to be released on bail, pending the determination of the treasonable felony charge the Federal Government preferred against him.
Justice Nyako said it was not minded to exercise its discretion in favour of the defendant, whom it said jumped the bail earlier granted him.
She noted that those who stood surety for the defendant had, after he escaped from the country, approached the court and applied to be discharged from the case.
She held that the sureties, in their applications, claimed that they were not aware of the whereabouts of the defendant, a situation 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 and 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. In addition, the court refused Kanu’s request to be either transferred to prison custody or placed on house arrest.
Justice 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.
I can’t be tried under your shrine – Kanu
On February 10, 2025, Nnamdi Kanu, caused a scene in court when he insisted that he would not be prosecuted before a shrine of injustice.
Trouble started after the prosecution counsel, Chief Adegboyega Awomolo, SAN, informed the court that he had filed and served all the necessary processes on Kanu’s legal team, preparatory to the commencement of full-blown hearing of the matter.
However, Kanu’s counsel, Mr. Alloy Ejimakor, drew the attention of the court to his client’s contention that the trial judge, Justice Binta Nyako, was no longer fit to preside over the case.
Ejimakor noted that Justice Nyako had in a ruling she delivered on November 24, 2024, recused herself from the trial.
Kanu’s lawyer also stressed that his client had also applied for his trial to be moved from Abuja to any Division of the High Court in the Southeast region where offences he was charged with were allegedly committed
Following Ejimakor’s submissions, Justice Nyako explained that though did not want to handle the trial again, she said the case file was returned back to her by the Chief Judge, Justice John Tsoho.
But while the prosecution counsel and the defence lawyer were still bickering over the request for Justice Nyako to hands off the trial, Kanu, who was watching from the dock, indicated his intention to address the court.
“I want to speak,” Kanu insisted when he was asked if he wanted to take over from his lawyer.
“Yes, I want to take over,” he replied.
Kanu said he only appeared for the proceeding due to the respect he had for the court, even as he stood his ground that Justice Nyako no longer had the requisite jurisdiction to priside over his trial, having previously recused herself.
Attempt by the Federal Government’s lawyer to interject, further infuriated the IPOB leader.
“Look at you! A grown-up man like you who should be in the village and who should be making sure that things are done properly, you are here subverting the law,” Kanu fumed.
Turning to the judge, he said: “I don’t recognise the authority of this court to preside over my case. Everything you said here is meaningless to me.
“Why is it that when it comes to my case, everything is turned upside-down?,” he queried, insisting that the memo the CJ sent, which returned the case file, could not override the enrolled order of the court that recused Justice Nyako from the trial.
When he was told by the judge that he was at liberty to appeal the directive of the CJ, Kanu said: “If the Chief Judge disagrees, he should be the one to appeal the decision.
“You cannot preside over this case, not now, not today, not ever. You stand recused and you must leave my case. I dont need you in my case. You are biased. Tell the Chief Judge that Nnamdi Kanu said so.
“This is not a court of law, this is a shrine of injustice and I will not subject myself to it,” Kanu added.
Not ready to be cowed by Kanu’s outburst, the prosecution counsel, Awomolo, SAN, urged the court to fix a date for his trial.
“My lord, in view of the fact that the defendant has indicated that he will not make a formal application, I apply for your lordship to give us a definite date for trial,” Awomolo, SAN, submitted.
Facing him again, Kanu, said: “Because of money they are paying you from the AGF’s office, a grown-up man like you is here supporting evil. The rule of law says you should go on appeal.
“The same Chief Judge writing this stupid memo, I have recused him before. He sat on appeal, I took him to NJC and recused him. Why is he insisting on this one? He wants to embarrass your lordship by asking her to sit on this case.”
In a short ruling, Justice Nyako, held that she had no option than to adjourn the case indefinitely.
“You have no jurisdiction to adjourn anything. None whatsoever! You cannot make an order without jurisdiction. The memo from the Chief Judge cannot confer jurisdiction upon you,” Kanu insisted.
Since then, the trial has stalled until the recent decision by the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice John Tsoho to re-assigned the case to another Judge