Leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPoB), Nnamdi Kanu yesterday said he would seek negotiation with the Federal Government over his ongoing trial.
Kanu who spoke through his lead counsel, Alloy Ejimakor, told the Federal High Court in Abuja that he would seek the negotiation under Section 17 of the Federal High Court Act.
The Act states: “In any Proceeding In the court, the court may promote reconciliation among parties thereto and encourage and facilitate the amicable settlement thereof”.
Ejimakor had earlier moved two applications brought before the court. The first application is to move form 49 and an application objecting to the jurisdiction of the court.
Kanu’s lawyer said if the applications are denied, his client will move for the implementation of section 17 of the Federal High Court Act.
In his response, counsel to the federal government, Adegboyega Awomolo told the court that he had earlier informed the defendant that he does not have the powers to negotiate on behalf of the Federal Government.
He stated that the defendant should approach the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagnei (SAN), who has the power to negotiate on behalf of the government.
Responding to the development, the presiding judge, Justice Binta Nyako, said the court was not a solicitor but to only hear cases.
The detained IPOB leader has been in DSS custody since June 2021, after he was arrested in Kenya. Since his arrest, he has been facing terrorism-related charges levelled against him by the government.
It will be recalled that Kanu was first arrested in Lagos on October 14, 2015, upon his return to the country from the United Kingdom, UK.
Justice Nyako had on April 25, 2017, granted him bail on health grounds, after he had spent about 18 months in detention.
Upon the perfection of the bail conditions, he was on April 28, 2017, released from the Kuje prison.
However, midway into the trial, the IPOB leader escaped from the country after soldiers invaded his country home at Afara Ukwu Ibeku in Umuahia, Abia State, an operation that led to the death of some of his followers.
Kanu was later re-arrested in Kenya on June 19, 2021 and extradited back to the country by security agents on June 27, 2021.
Following the development, the trial court, on June 29, 2021, remanded him in custody of DSS, where he remained till date.
On April 8, 2022, the court struck out eight out of the 15-count charge that FG preferred against him on the premise that they lacked substance.
Likewise, the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal, on October 13, 2022, ordered Kanu’s immediate release from detention even as it quashed the charge against him.
Dissatisfied with the decision, FG took the matter before the Supreme Court, even as it persuaded the appellate court to suspend the execution of the judgement, pending the determination of its appeal.
While deciding the appeal, the Supreme Court, on December 15, 2023, vacated the judgement of the appellate court and gave FG the nod to try the IPOB leader on the subsisting seven-count charge.
