By BASHIR ADEFAKA
A Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered that the Leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, be remanded in the Department of State Service (DSS) facility, pending the determination of his trial.
This followed his re-arrest in London, United Kingdom, extradition to Nigeria on Sunday 27 June, 2021 and subsequent arraignment in the High Court for the continuation of his trial on Tuesday 29 June.
The order was given by Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court Abuja, after an ex-parte motion by the counsel to the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Shuaibu Labaran, telling the court that the defendant (Kanu), who jumped bail, had been arrested and produced in court.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Labaran asked the court for an order detaining the arrested IPOB leader at the DSS facility pending the hearing and determination of the matter.
Justice Nyako, who granted the plea, adjourned the matter until July 26 for the continuation of the trial.
However, immediately after the ruling by the judge, Nnamdi Kanu, who expressed his desire to talk, told the court that he decided to go underground because his house was raided but he was able to escape.
Kanu said if he had not escaped, he might have been killed like other members of the group.
The judge, who advised him not to feel discomfiture to stand his trial, urged him to get across to his lawyer for the trial.
Kanu, assisted by some Igbo figures, allegedly jumped bail after the court had few years ago granted him bail on health ground while he was required to present himself at a later date for the commencement of his trial, only for him to escape to London from where he had shuttled between UK and Israel using the Twitter and other social media platforms to spread fake news and dangerous incitements that had lead to loss of many lives and destruction of many public assets in Nigeria.
