Biafra: Court will on Thursday make decision on Nnamdi Kanu’s bail
Mr. Kanu, the director of the underground Radio Biafra, was arrested by the State Security Service.
Calls for his release led to demonstrations in several south east states.
On Monday, the counsel to the SSS, Moses Idakwo, asked that the court
to disregard the bail application by Mr. Kanu’s counsel, Vincent Obeta.
Mr. Idakwo argued that Mr. Kanu should not be granted bail as the charge against him was terrorism-related.
He said the SSS had evidence of bank accounts owned by Mr. Kanu,
where monies (in dollars and pound sterling) were used for financing
terrorism against Nigeria.
Mr. Idakwo told the court that Mr. Kanu had dual citizenship of
Britain and Nigeria and therefore could flee justice, if granted bail.
He also said the bail conditions issued by a magistrate court were still yet to be perfected by Mr. Kanu.
But Mr. Kanu’s counsel, Mr. Obeta, dismissed the arguments of the SSS as being speculative.
He told the court that his client had long offered to meet the
financial requirement by the Abuja Geographical Information System
(AGIS) for ascertaining the authenticity of the properties belonging to
the surety, but that his offer was rejected by the SSS.
Mr. Obeta told the court that the SSS had on four occasions flouted
the order of the magistrate court, adding that an order had since been
given for his client’s release, on bail.
He said the request by the SSS to further detain Mr. Kanu for another
90 days, according to section 27 of the Terrorism Prevention Act, was a
negation of his client’s right.
Mr. Obeta also said his client had been in detention for 90 days, as at Monday.
Justice Adeniyi Ademola, who seemed quite unfamiliar with the case,
said he would look into the matter and would issue a ruling Thursday.
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