Bail: Kanu, others know fate Dec 1

18-11-2016 

Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court, Abu­ja has adjourned ruling on the bail application filed by the detained leader of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, and three others being held for acts of terrorism and running an illegal association.

When the matter came up on Thursday, counsel to Kanu, Ifeanyi Ejiofor, ar­gued the bail application and prayed the court to admit him to bail on liberal terms.

Ejiofor said that the ap­plication was supported by a 26-paragraph affidavit and 35 exhibits, which include the charges filed against Kanu at the Magistrate Court, the rul­ing of the court granting him bail, the ruling of Justice Ad­eniyi Ademola of the Federal High Court in Abuja, order­ing his unconditional release.

Other documents at­tached to the bail application was a newspaper publication of a statement credited to President Muhammadu Bu­hari that the first defendant (Kanu) would not be granted bail by any court and a certi­fied true copy of Certificate of Incorporation of the Ra­dio Biafra.

He told the court that the first defendant has initiated contempt proceedings against the Department of State Ser­vices (DSS) for refusing to obey last year’s order of the court, granting Kanu bail.

The counsel to the second defendant, Mr. I. Adoga, in­formed the court that his cli­ent was still in the custody of the DSS, instead of the prison as directed by the court.

The counsel to the other defendants also prayed the court to admit their clients to bail on liberal terms.

But the prosecution coun­sel, Shuaibu Labaran, in a counter affidavit to the bail applications, asked the court to refuse them bail but order for accelerated hearing of the matter.

According to him, the de­fendants are threats to na­tional security, adding that the firearm licence, which the third defendant claimed he had, was not issued by the appropriate authorities.

Labaran also drew the court’s attention to the appli­cation filed by the prosecu­tion seeking witness protec­tion in the matter, which, he said, had been served on all the parties in the matter.

After hearing the sub­missions of the government against the bail applications by Kanu and his co-defend­ants, Justice Nyako adjourned till December 1, 2016 to de­cide on the applications.