*Biafran activist expresses lack of confidence in trial

Justice Ahmed Mohammed of the Federal High Court in Abuja has dramatically withdrawn from the fresh case filed by the Department of State Services against leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu.

Nnamdi Kanu: fresh trial begins

The six-count charge, bordering on a terrorism  and operating an illegal association, was quietly filed on Tuesday against Kanu and two other persons.

But since Kanu was not in court, the judge adjourned the case to allow all the parties to be present in court.

When the case came up today, Kanu refused to take a plea of guilty or not guilty as he expressed a lack of confidence in the judiciary, saying he was not likely to get a fair trial.

He said  information available to him indicated that he will not get a fair trial before the judge.

And he said  was not ready to  sacrifice the due process of the law founded in the principles of natural justice upon the altar of speedy release from detention.

“I will rather remain in detention than subject myself to a trial that I know amounts to perversion of justice”, he said.

Reacting to Mr Kanu’s protest, the Director of Public Prosecution, Mr Mohammed Diri, asked the court to discountenance the objection on the ground that the accused person ought to come before the court with a proper application.

He said Kanu’s  objection could only be made after he had taken a plea.

But Mr Vincent Obetta, defending Kanu supported him  and asked the court to oblige his client’s request.

In a short ruling Justice Ahmed Mohammed said he agreed with the accused person’s protest, especially as it bothers on the issue of confidence in a judicial process.

Justice Ahmed said that since the confidence of the court has been questioned, he will return the case file to the Chief Justice of the Federal High Court for further action.

Last week, an Abuja Federal High Court ordered the DSS to release Kanu unconditionally and cancelled an arrest  order granted the agency. This came after a case filed at the Magistrate Court in Wuse was quashed after the prosecution  said he was under investigation for terrorism and terrorism financing, crimes that will allow the DSS to hold him indefintely .

Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the outlawed Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB), has been held by the Department of State Services (DSS), the country’s secret police, since his arrest in October for operating pirate Radio Biafra and belonging to an unlawful organisation.