The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja non Thursday, March 28, has issued a bench warrant for the re-arrest of the fugitive leaders of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu.
The judge, Justice Binta Nyako, whose decision was anchored on the provisions of section 352(4) of the Administrative of Criminal Justice Act, 2015, said Kanu had failed to appear in court since April 25, 2017, without any reasonable explanation.
In a judgement presided over by Binta Nyako, Premium Times reports that the court also revoked the bail previously granted to the IPOB leader.
TheLagostimes gathered that the judgement was made following the failure of Kanu to appear in court after his bail was granted in April 2017.
Justice Nyako, according to the report, also ruled that the trial of the runaway IPOB leader must continue even in his absence before adjourning the case to June 18.
Meanwhile, Kanu’s lawyer, Mr. Ifeanyi Ejiofor, had opposed Labaran’s oral application asking to be given more time to explain why his client had not been in court by filing all necessary papers.
He insisted that Kanu’s disappearance was as a result of soldiers’ invasion of the IPOB leader’s home in Afara-Ukwu near Umuahia, Abia State, during military’s ‘Operation Python Dance II’ staged to quell agitation for a Republic of Biafra.
But the judge, noting that she had in a judgment on a civil suit filed by Kanu, held that there was no nexus between the said military invasion and the IPOB leader’s disappearance.
She overruled the objection, noting that the request for explanation of the defendant’s absence in court was belated.