The legal team representing the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, has issued a warning, suggesting a potential boycott of court proceedings due to perceived injustices against their client.
They have emphasized that they will not engage in the legal proceedings if the Department of State Services (DSS) fails to uphold Kanu’s right to a fair trial.
Kanu faces charges of treason felony and terrorism and has been detained by the DSS since 2021. Despite his application for bail on health grounds and to adequately prepare for trial, Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court in Abuja rejected his plea, assuring instead an accelerated hearing.
Scheduled to commence on April 17, 2024, Kanu’s trial has been met with challenges in his preparation, according to his legal team led by Alloy Ejimakor. During a press conference in Abuja on April 9, 2024, Ejimakor accused the DSS of obstructing access to their client and seizing legal documents necessary for Kanu’s preparation.
Expressing continued frustration, Ejimakor stated during another press conference in Abuja on Wednesday that they would withdraw from the trial if the DSS persisted in impeding their efforts to ready Kanu for his defense.
Ejimakor highlighted that such actions by the DSS deny Kanu his fundamental right to a fair trial, asserting that their legal team cannot condone such circumstances.
Ejimakor said, “This legal team is not going to be part of the travesty of justice. If Nnamdi Kanu is not going to get a fair trial, this legal team is not going to be part of murdering justice in a Nigerian court. It doesn’t mean we are going to abandon Kanu, but we will, as a group, abandon a process.
“We will refuse to be participants in a process that is geared to and pre-programmed injustice on the head of Kanu. Let that be clear. It doesn’t sound like we are going to boycott Kanu, but you can say we are boycotting the judiciary, and what we are boycotting is manifest injustice.”
Efforts to get the DSS spokesperson, Peter Afunanya, proved abortive as calls to his mobile phone indicated ‘line busy’.
He had yet to respond to a message requesting his reaction to the allegations levelled against the DSS as of the time of filling this report.
