The Department of State Services on Monday brought the Director of Radio Biafra and leader of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB), Prince Nnamdi Kanu, before the Abuja Chief Magistrate Court to answer criminal charges brought against him by the Nigerian Government.
The DSS was obeying a court order to produce Mr. Kanu unfailingly before it on Monday (today).
But the DSS, which is more popularly known the State Security Services, brought a twist to the case when it asked the magistrates court to discontinue the hearing of the case.
The prosecuting counsel, Mr Moses Idakwo, told the court that fresh facts have emerged since the arraignment of the defendant, which would require the case to be taken out of the jurisdiction of the magistrate court.
The counsel asked the court for the permission to take the matter to another court.
Kanu is standing trial for alleged criminal conspiracy, managing and belonging to an unlawful society and criminal intimidation contrary to sections 97 and 397 of the penal code.
Kanu was arrested on October 18 by DSS operatives on his arrival from the United Kingdom. He was granted bail when arraigned before Chief Magistrate Shuaibu Usman but remains detained by DSS despite meeting the stringent bail conditions.
Following the absence of the accused person in the preceding hearing, Chief Magistrate Shuaibu Usman had ordered the DSS to unfailingly produce him on Monday November 23.
He also said that “coupled with the fact that the accused person has been unable to perfect his bail… the complainant is expeditiously apply for the arraignment of the accused in the appropriate court”.
But one of the defending counsels, V. E Obeta told the court that the team of the defendant has been aligned and all discord settled. He said he and his team were appearing on the orders of the defendant.
“There is no way that they can be in pretense of violating the orders of the court,” another defence counsel M.U. Ibekwo said.
He said the SSS could not pick someone from Lagos, transport him to Abuja and violate the court and then suddenly stumble on new facts that would mandate that the case be transferred to a competent court of law. He argued that under the law, the SSS has no right to hold Kanu in their facility.
“But my Lord, today we noticed that the defendant was brought from the SSS custody instead of a prison facility as stipulated in the law,” Ibekwo said.
He said an ex-partie order by the SSS violated the proceedings and orders of the court.
“My lordship, there is no appeal against any of the orders that have been issued by this court whatsoever,” he said.
He prayed the court not to allow the discontinuance of the matter until compliance is made with the orders of the court.
In his arguments, the prosecuting counsel said that the prosecution did not need an instruction from the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) to discontinue a case.
The accused stood throughout the proceeding without making any comment.
But the magistrate, Shuaibu Usman showed his dissatisfaction in the time taken by the case especially with the verification of the surety and property for bail.
The prosecuting counsel said the SSS has verified that the said surety works with the Ministry of Environment but that there are other matters arising.
The chief magistrate, Usman adjourned the matter to Tuesday, December 1, for ruling on the application to discontinue the case.
Adapted from on-line reports
