Nnamdi Kanu lawyers threaten to boycott court over alleged injustice

Due to what they see as unfairness against their client, members of Nnamdi Kanu's legal team have threatened to boycott court sessions. Kanu is the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra.

They declared that if the Department of State Services did not uphold the IPOB leader's right to a fair trial, they would not take part in the proceedings.

The leader of IPOB, who has been detained by the DSS since 2021, is accused of terrorism and treason.

Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court in Abuja denied his request for bail on the basis of his health and to allow him to get ready for trial.

It is anticipated that Kanu's trial will start on April 17, 2024.

However, Alloy Ejimakor, the head of Kanu's legal team, has been speaking to reporters about the challenges they have had getting the IPOB leader ready for trial.

At a news conference in Abuja on April 9, 2024, Ejimakor said that the DSS was preventing them from seeing their client.

In order to get Kanu ready for trial, he also claimed that the service had been stealing every court document they brought to the DSS site.

At a separate news conference on Wednesday in Abuja, Ejimakor threatened to withdraw from the trial if the DSS persisted in impeding their attempts to get Kanu ready for his trial.

According to Ejimakor, the DSS's activities are depriving the IPOB commander of his right to a fair trial.
He declared that if the procedure persisted, the legal team would not be involved.

"This legal team is not going to be part of the travesty of justice," Ejimakor declared. This legal team will not participate in the murder of justice in a Nigerian court if Nnamdi Kanu is not going to receive a fair trial. It implies that while we won't give up on Kanu individually, we will give up on a method as a team.

"We are not going to take part in a procedure that is designed to inflict injustice on Kanu's head. To be clear about it. Though it doesn't sound like we're going to boycott Kanu, you could claim that we are abstaining from using the judiciary in favour of obvious injustice.

Calls to Peter Afunanya, the DSS spokesperson, on his mobile phone revealed that the line was busy, therefore attempts to reach him were unsuccessful.

As of the time this report was filled out, he has not yet replied to a mail asking for his response to the accusations made against the DSS.