Justice Binta Nyako has fixed a date to rule on an application seeking to transfer the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu, out of the custody of the Department of State Services, DSS.
The judge of the Abuja Federal High Court fixed May 20 for ruling.
Justice Nyako adjourned for ruling after listening to arguments on the application.
Kanu’s lead counsel, Alloy Ejimakor, informed the court that Kanu’s continued detention in the DSS facility would mitigate the accelerated hearing ordered by the court.
Kanu, who has been in detention since 2021 in a motion argued by Ejimakor requested the court to restore the bail granted to him in 2017 by the same Judge.
He told the court that contrary to the claim of the Federal Government, he did not jump bail or breach any of the conditions of the bail but had to escape out of the country when the military allegedly invaded his house.
The detained IPOB leader also said that he would have been killed if he had not escaped the way he did and accused the Federal Government of misleading the court to get the bail revoked in his absence.
He also asked the court to set aside the arrest warrant issued against him by the court while he was out of the country.
In a separate motion, also argued by his legal team, Kanu demanded his removal from the custody of the DSS to a house arrest or in the alternative, to remand him in prison.
Speaking with journalists after the proceedings, a House of Representatives member, Hon Ikenga Ugochinyere praised the legal team of Kanu for standing to get a fair trial for their client adding that, under the present circumstances, there would be no opportunity for Kanu to get a better deal when his hands and legs are tied in the custody of the DSS.
He appealed to President Bola Tinubu to end the trial logjam by ensuring out-of-court settlement for general peace to reign in the country.