Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court in Abuja has asked the Department of State Services, DSS, not to take over the court’s security protocols on February 16 until 12 p.m., when the trial of IPOB leader Nnamdi Kanu on terrorist charges begins.
The decision of the judge is to allow other judges to attend to other cases slated for their respective courts.
Justice Nyako noted with regret that trials of other cases have been aborted and made to suffer unnecessary adjournments each time Kanu’s trial takes place due to heavy security presence and blockade of roads leading to the court.
To ensure that other cases are accommodated before the commencement of Kanu’s trial, Justice Nyako shifted the terrorism trial till 1 pm on Wednesday, February 16.
The judge told DSS Director of Legal Services to convey the court’s decision to the highest authority of the service for implementation in the interest of justice to other litigants.
A 15-count terrorism charge was on Wednesday, January 19 slammed on Nnamdi Kanu by the Federal Government.
He pleaded not guilty to the charges and asked the court to discharge and acquit him without standing trial because the charges were incurably defective and not worth being defended.
Kanu claimed that the charges, which he denied upon arraignment, were incompetent, invalid and have no force of law.
The alleged secessionist, through his counsel, Chief Mike Ozekhome SAN, said that the offences brought against him were committed in the United Kingdom, outside the shores of Nigeria.
Kanu’s two motions on notice, one questioning the validity of the charges and the other seeking bail are billed for hearing on February 16.
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