A Federal High Court sitting before Justice Ramat Mohammed in Abuja has withdrawn from the criminal trial instituted by the Department of State Service (DSS) against Nnamdi Kanu, director of Radio Biafra.
This was as a result of an objection raised by Kanu, while he was docked with the intent of arraigning him over terrorism related charge, in which he alleged that the court would not grant him a fair trial.
Kanu, who was due for arraignment alongside Benjamin Madubugwu and David Nwawui, said based on available information, the very court in which he was to be arraigned would not grant him fair hearing in the charges filed against him.
“I will not sacrifice the due process of law founded upon the principle of natural justice, on the altar of speedy release from detention. In other words, I will rather remain in detention, than subject myself to a trial that I know amounts to perversion of justice,” he objected, adding that several rulings had been delivered by competent courts of jurisdiction, which were not obeyed by the DSS.
The prosecuting counsel, M. S. Diri, in his argument against the objection of the first defendant, cited Section 396 (2) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015, submitting that the objection to trial could only be raised only after the plea of the defendant had been taken and not before it.
But Justice Mohammed in his ruling, upheld the objections of the first defendant (Kanu), who he said had the right to object to his trial if any of the parties had no confidence in the court to conduct a fair trial.
He ruled that the Section 396(2) as cited by the prosecution in his argument had nothing to do with the kind of objection being raised in the matter, upon which the case file was released to the office of the Chief Judge for further action.
It would be recalled that, a Federal High Court sitting before Justice Adeniyi Ademola had earlier ordered the unconditional release of Kanu from the custody of the DSS, since there were no criminal charges filed against him after 90 days within the confines of the DSS.
Kanu was arrested on October 17, 2015, in Lagos by security operatives on arrival from his base in the United Kingdom and had been in the custody of the DSS ever since.
