The presiding judge in the trial of Nnamdi Kanu, detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Justice Binta Nyako, has recused herself from the trial.
On Tuesday, Justice Nyako withdrew from the trial after Kanu made an oral submission accusing her of non-compliance with the orders of the Supreme Court.
Kanu had ordered his counsel, Aloy Ejimakor Esq, to sit down while he took up submission to the court after the lawyer tried to appeal to the judge to suspend the trial to enable his client prepare adequately for his defence as the date was too close.
Kanu shouted from the dock, “Sit down! I say you should sit down!”
“My lord, I have no confidence in this court any more and I ask you to recuse yourself because you did not abide by the decision of the Supreme Court,” he submitted.
“I can understand it if the DSS refuse to obey a court order, but for this court to refuse to obey an order of the Supreme Court is regrettable. I am asking you to recuse yourself from this case,” Kanu stated.
Though the prosecution counsel, Adegboyega Awomolo (SAN), pleaded the the court to proceed with the trial, Justice Nyako said she wanted to recuse herself from the case.
“I hereby recuse myself and remit the case-file back to the Chief Judge,” she held.
Justice Nyako had been presiding over the trial of Kanu since he was first arrested in 2015 for agitations for creation of a Biafra Republic from Nigeria.
The judge had in June 2017 granted Kanu bail alongside his co-defendants but he escaped the country after a military operation at his Afara-Ukwu, Umuahia family compound in Abia State where several of his supporters were killed.
Following Kanu’s rearrangement after his rendition from Kenya in 2021, Justice Nyako also dismissed seven of the 15-count charges brought against him by the federal government bordering on treasonable felony for lack of sufficient evidence.