Court adjourns case as Nigeria government fail to produce Biafra leader

The trial of Nigeria’s Biafra separatist leader, Nnamdu Kanu, has been adjourned.

The Federal Court was unable to continue with the case as the Department of State Services (DSS) failed to produce Kanu.

Nigeria in June this year said Kanu had been arrested and extradited. There were doubts over the claim.

The Federal High Court
heard the case in Abuja.

But DSS failed to produce Kanu for what it called “logistic reasons.”

Lead counsel to the prosecution, M. B. Abubakar, reportedly informed the court that the case is slayed for hearing, adding that although the defendant has not been produced by the DSS, the prosecution is ready to proceed with the trial.‌

According to reports, he, however, requested the court to proceed with the trial without a fiat taking into consideration that the court has commenced vacation and the trial Judge, Justice Binta Nyako was not one of the vacation judges.

Reports say Kanu’s counsel, Ifeanyi Ejiofor, informed the court of an application he filed seeking the transfer of Kanu from DSS custody to the correctional centre.

By Melvin Tarlue