Nnamdi Kanu legal team to boycott court over injustice

Members of Nnamdi Kanu’s legal team have warned that they may boycott court sessions in response to perceived injustices against their client.

They stated that they would refuse to participate in the proceedings if the Department of State Services did not respect the IPOB leader’s right to a fair trial.

The IPOB leader has been in DSS detention since 2021, facing charges of treason and terrorism.

He had requested for bail on health grounds and to prepare for trial, but it was denied by Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court in Abuja.

Nyako instead agreed to grant an expedited hearing in the case.

Kanu’s trial is slated to begin on April 17, 2024.

However, Kanu’s legal team, led by Alloy Ejimakor, has been addressing journalists about the difficulties they have had in preparing the IPOB leader for trial.

On April 9, 2024, at a news conference in Abuja, Ejimakor accused the DSS of denying them access to their client.

He also accused the service of repeatedly seizing every legal document they brought to the DSS headquarters to prepare Kanu for trial.

At another news conference in Abuja on Wednesday, Ejimakor stated that if the DSS continues to frustrate their efforts to prepare Kanu for trial, they will withdraw from the case.

Ejimakor alleged that the DSS’s activities are denying the IPOB leader his right to a fair trial.

He stated that the legal team would not participate in such a process if it continued.

Ejimakor said, “This legal team is not going to be part of the travesty of justice. If Nnamdi Kanu is not going to get a fair trial, this legal team is not going to be part of murdering justice in a Nigerian court. It doesn’t mean we are going to abandon Kanu, but we will, as a group, abandon a process.

“We will refuse to be participants in a process that is geared to and pre-programmed injustice on the head of Kanu. Let that be clear. It doesn’t sound like we are going to boycott Kanu, but you can say we are boycotting the judiciary, and what we are boycotting is manifest injustice.”

Attempts to reach the DSS spokesperson, Peter Afunanya, were unsuccessful since calls to his mobile phone indicated ‘line busy’.

As of the time of filing this story, he had not responded to a mail demanding his reaction to the claims levied against the DSS.