Justice Binta Nyako withdraws from trial of Kanu, the IPOB leader

Admin I Tuesday, September 24, 2024

 

ABUJA, Nigeria – Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court, Abuja, handling the trial of leader of Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu has withdrawn from the case.

Her  lordship Binta Nyako opted to recuse herself from the trial following  the oral submission of counsel to the defendant,  Aloy Ejimakor  accusing Justice Binta Nyako of non-compliance with orders of the Supreme Court of Nigeria.

Ejimakor actually read a portion of the judgment where the Supreme court held that actions of the trial court in the matter “rendered the impartiality of the judge suspect”.

“But my lord, you know that I love you. It is just that this court is allowing the defence to railroad me into a trial that is at variance with every provision of the Constitution,” Kanu added.

Kanu had requested his counsel, Aloy Ejimakor Esq, to sit down while appealing to the judge to suspend the trial to enable his client prepare adequately for his defence.

“Sit down! I say you should sit down!”,  Kanu told his lawyer.

While the drama was ongoing,  the prosecution, led by Adegboyega Awomolo (SAN), pleaded  with the court to proceed with the trial.

But  Justice Nyako  told the court she wants  to recuse herself from the case. “I hereby recuse myself and remit the case-file back to the Chief Judge,” she held.

Justice Nyako  had presided over the case of the IPOB leader  since he was arrested in 2015 for agitating for the creation of Biafra Republic from Nigeria.

In June 2017, Nyako granted bail to Kanu  and his co-defendants but he escaped the country after a military operation at his Afara-Ukwu, Umuahia family compound in Abia State where some of his supporters were killed.

Following Kanu’s rearrangement after his rendition from Kenya in 2021, Justice Nyako  began the process and in one of the trials dismissed seven of the 15-count charges brought against him by the federal government bordering on treasonable felony for lack of sufficient evidence.