A Federal High Court in Abuja has adjourned to February 28 for three sureties to the leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) Nnamdi Kanu, including Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, to either produce him in court or show cause why each of them should not forfeit his N100 million bail bond.
The court had at the last proceedings on December 5, 2017, adjourned to yesterday for the sureties to explain why Kanu suddenly stopped attending court and account for his whereabouts.
Abaribe has filed two applications. One is asking the court to discharge him as surety to Kanu. The other wants the court to inspect Kanu’s house in Abia State, where he was said to have been last seen.
The trial judge, Justice Binta Nyako, also granted an application by the prosecution yesterday and ordered that Kanu’s trial be separated from those of his co-defendants.
Kanu was in 2015 charged before the court with three others on treasonable felony charges.
The others are the National Coordinator of IPOB, Chidiebere Onwudiwe; an IPOB member, Benjamin Madubugwu; and a former Field Maintenance Engineer seconded to the telecommunication company, MTN, David Nwawuisi.
The court, in a ruling on April 25, 2017, granted bail to Kanu, but rejected others’ bail application.
Kanu has ceased to attend court, with his lawyer, Ifeanyi Ejiofor, claiming he (Kanu) had been missing since some soldiers invaded his home in September last year.
Yesterday, his co-defendants (who are in prison custody) were brought to court, Kanu was absent.
The development prompted the prosecution lawyer, Shuaibu Labaran, to apply that the trial be separated to prevent further delay.