By Francesca Hangeior.
Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court in Abuja has withdrawn from the treason trial of the self-acclaimed leader of the separatist group, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu.
Justice Nyako announced her withdrawal on Tuesday shortly after Kanu demanded that the judge recuse herself from his trial.
At the mention of the case on Tuesday, September 24, Kanu’s lawyer, Alloy Ejimakor urged the court to postpone the planned commencement of trial, claiming that his client was denied the opportunity to adequately prepare for his defence.
But, before Ejimakor could conclude his submission, Kanu rose from where he sat in the dock and told his lawyer to sit down.
Kanu told his lawyer: “Sit down! I say you should sit down.” Then, turning to the judge, he said: “My lord, I have no confidence in this court anymore and I ask you to recuse yourself because you did not abide by the decision of the Supreme Court.
“I can understand it if the DSS (Department of State Services) refuse to obey a court order, but for this court to refuse to obey an order of the Supreme Court is regrettable.
“I am asking you to recuse yourself from this case,” Kanu said.
Prosecuting lawyer, Adegboyega Awomolo (SAN) urged the court to ignore Kanu and proceed with the trial.
Awomolo noted that contrary to Kanu’s claim, the Supreme Court ordered that the defendant (Kanu) should be tried on the seven counts left in the 11 counts contained in the original charge on which he was first arraigned.
He said: “The Justices (of the Supreme Court) ordered this court to proceed with the hearing of the charge against the defendant.
“My lord, you should not recuse yourself based on this mere observation, which does not have anything to do with the Supreme Court.
“It is an incompetent observation. We urge this court to proceed with the hearing.”
Kanu, again, stood up and held out a document he claimed was the subsisting judgment of the Supreme Court.
Without seeking and obtaining the judge’s permission, Kanu proceeded to read a portion of the document where he said the Supreme Court found that actions of the trial court in the case “rendered the impartiality of the judge suspect.”
Kanu said: “But my lord, you know that I love you. It is just that this court is allowing the prosecution to railroad me into a trial that is at variance with every provision of the Constitution.”
The defendant then sat down, following which Justice Nyako expressed displeasure about his conduct.
Justice Nyako subsequently announced her decision to withdraw from the case, saying: “I hereby recuse myself and remit the case file back to the Chief Judge.”