Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, the embattled leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, has demanded that his case should be transferred to the Southeast if no judge in Abuja is willing to take up his trial.
This was contained in a statement on Wednesday, issued by Kanu’s lead counsel, Aloy Ejimakor, after a routine meeting at the Department of State Services, DSS, facility in Abuja.
The IPOB leader insisted that Justice Binta Nyako of the Abuja Federal High Court will not handle his case and ordered his lawyers to ensure that the judge stays off his case following her recusal.
Kanu said Justice Nyako would be disobeying her own order by restarting the case.
The statement read, “The routine visitation to Onyendu Mazi Nnamdi Kanu continues unabated, as the legal team just concluded a crucial visitation today.
“The central issue arising at today’s visitation is the upcoming court date for the continuation of MNK’s case.
“Due to its constitutional implications, Onyendu instructed the legal team to take certain prompt steps to ensure that his case is not handled by the same Justice Binta Murtala-Nyako who had withdrawn from the case by virtue of the order of recusal entered on 24th September 2024.
“The point was stressed that should the case still lie with Justice Murtala-Nyako, it would mean that the same court is disobeying an order that it made.
“We are therefore looking forward to going to court as long as another Judge of the Federal High Court is assigned to the case.
“If no other judge in Abuja is willing to handle the case, the Chief Judge is free to transfer the case to Umuahia, Awka, Enugu, Asaba, Port Harcourt or any other Federal High Court within the former Eastern Nigeria where the offenses were alleged to have happened or allegedly had impact.”
Recall that on September 24, 2024, Kanu had asked Justice Nyako to hands off his trial on grounds of lack of confidence.
Following the call, the trial judge stepped down from Kanu’s case and transferred his case file to the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, John Tsoho.
