A Federal High Court in Abuja has adjourned ruling on the bail application filed by the embattled leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu.
Mr. Kanu is facing a six-count charge bordering on allegations of treasonable felony, maintaining an unlawful society and illegal possession of firearms, among others.
The Biafran agitator was brought to court by the Nigerian Prisons Service officials in handcuffs on Monday.
During the hearing, Mr. Kanu’s counsel, Vincent Obeta, told the court that the offences for which his client was brought before it was bailable.
He cited sections section 158 and 162 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA), stressing that the sections contain his client’s statutory right to bail since he (Mr. Kanu) was not charged for a capital offence.
He said the offence borders on civil right issues, adding that the right to agitate is guaranteed in a democracy.
But the prosecution counsel, Mohammed Diri, argued that the application did not meet the conditions stipulated in section 162 of the ACJA.
Mr. Diri, the director of prosecution in the office of the Attorney General of the Federation, expressed fears that Mr. Kanu would escape trial if granted bail.
He stressed that the defendant had dual citizenship.
The counsel therefore urged the court to deny the bail application and proceed with accelerated hearing into the matter.
In his ruling, after accessing the arguments of both counsel, Mr. Tsoho said the application for bail would be decided on January 29.
Shortly after the session, Mr. Kanu, along with some of his supporters, engaged in an argument with the prison officials as he was led out of the court premises.
Mr. Tsoho had on January 20 ordered that Mr. Kanu be remanded in Kuje prison pending hearing on his bail application.
Mr. Kanu was arrested in October 2015 by officials of the State Security Service, shortly after he returned to the country.
Calls for his release have resulted in violent protests in some parts of the country. (Premium Times)
