IPOB Leader, Nnamdi Kanu has refused plans by Justice Binta Nyako of the Abuja Federal High Court to try him in secret.
IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu
Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, has insisted that he will not be tried in secret. Kanu rejected plots by Justice Binta Nyako of the Abuja Federal High Court to take testimonies against him in private as he accused President Muhammadu Buhari of masterminding the injustice.
Kanu, alongside Chidiebere Onwudiwe, Benjamin Madubugwu and David Nwawuisi, are facing trial for an 11 count charge bordering on terrorism, treasonable felony and publication of defamatory matter.
The IPOB leader sparked shortly after Justice Nyako ruled that witnesses in the ongoing trial of Kanu would be allowed to testify behind a screen, an angry Kanu, who was in the dock shouted, “I will not be tried in secret.”
The trial judge said “It is in law that criminal trials be conducted in open court, but, however, it is not strange that some circumstances can warrant the concealing of witnesses.
“I will want all of you to choose a date for us to practice how the screening will be conducted, so that you will not be taken unaware on the process.”
A visibly angry Kanu snapped back at the judge and said: “I will not be tried in the secret, this is not a Sharia court, I must be tried in an open court.
“Buhari went public and he accused me in public, now he wants to try me secretly, I will not accept that.
“He (President Buhari) has sent his sister from Kastina state (referring to the judge) to try me, he should learn to guard his utterances.”
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