Ozekhome further notified the trial judge about the judgement of the Court of Appeal that quashed the 15-count charge preferred against Kanu and discharged him of all the allegations.
By Jeffrey Agbo
Leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, on Monday refused to present himself before the Federal High Court in Abuja for his planned re-arraignment.
The Federal Government had planned to re-arraign him on a seven-count amended charge.
A team of government prosecutors led by the Director of Public Prosecution, M.B. Abubakar, told Justice Binta Nyako that Kanu declined to be brought before the court for trial.
“My lord, I understand that the defendant declined to come to court today.
“As at last week, the defendant was intimated of this sitting and he did not object. However, when I called the office this morning, I was informed that the defendant woke up and declined to come to court.
“All entreaties and pleas were made but he refused to come to court,” the prosecution said.
But Kanu’s lead counsel, Mike Ozekhome, told the court that the development was strange to him.
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“My lord, this is totally strange to me because this is a person that has never hidden his intention to always be in court. In fact, even in processes we filed at both the Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court, the defendant said he would want to be present in court for hearing of all the matters,” he said.
Ozekhome further notified the trial judge about the judgement of the Court of Appeal that quashed the 15-count charge preferred against Kanu and discharged him of all the allegations.
Ozekhome contended that since the government has gone to the Supreme Court to set aside the judgement and Kanu client also challenging the order that stayed the execution of the verdict, it was better for the matter to be adjourned sine-die (indefinitely).
He told the court that his client was also not served with the amended charges.
Justice Nyako subsequently adjourned the case indefinitely.