Nnamdi Kanu creates scene in court as he refuses to alight from van and remove handcuffs

RADIO Biafra director Nnamdi Kanu created a scene outside the Federal High Court in Abuja this morning when he refused to alight from the prison van that brought him to the premises and objected to his handcuffs being removed.

 

Mr Kanu, who is facing several charges bordering on public incitement to violence, running a pirate radio station and threatening the territorial sanctity of Nigeria, is currently being detained at Kuje Prisons in Abuja. He was brought to court this morning as part of his ongoing trial and decided to add some drama to the proceedings.

 

Applauded by his supporters and members of his Indigenous Peoples of Biafra who were at the court, Mr Kanu refused to come down from the prison van upon arriving in court.  This led the prison officials to call his lawyer, Chuks Mouma, who after much persuasion was able to get his client to came down from the vehicle.

 

However, upon alighting, Mr Kanu then  refused to take off the handcuffs when prison officials tried to remove them, even while being led to the courtroom. Department of State Services officials had arraigned the embattled Mr Kanu before Justice Ahmed Mohammed of the same court on a six-count charge of treasonable felony but the matter could not be continued following his vote of no confidence in Justice Mohammed.

 

 Following Mr Kanu’s vote of no confidence on the judge, the matter was brought before Justice John Tsoho. His defence counsel, Mr Mouma had on January 25, filed an application before Justice Tsoho seeking for an adjournment on the consideration of bail.

 

Following the application, Justice Tsoho had adjourned the matter until January 29 for ruling on the bail application. However, in his ruling on January 29, Justice Tsoho denied Mr Kanu bail on the grounds that he was a threat to national security.

 

Justice Tsoho held that if Mr Kanu was granted bail, he may go back and commit the same crime for which he was been prosecuted, adding that he may also jump bail due to his dual citizenship. He consequently adjourned the matter till today, February 9, for the commencement of trial.