The Supreme Court on Friday approved the accelerated trial of the leader of the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), Ralph Uwazuruike, and six other principal members of the group to face a four-count charge of treason and conspiracy brought against them by the Federal Government.
The other appellants in the case include Ambrose Anyaso, Augustine Ihuoma, Chibuike Nwosu, Kelechi Ubabuike, Chimankpa Okorocha and Benedict Alakwem.
The apex court was ruling on the case brought before it by the accused persons asking it to stop the trial. In its ruling, the court said that the appeal by Uwazuruike and others was designed to defeat the course of justice, and thus, lacked merit.
Justice Bode Rhodes-Vivour, who delivered the lead judgement, observed that the appeal filed by Mr Festus Keyamo on behalf of the MASSOB members amounted to “a waste of precious judicial time since all the information imaginable that the appellants would need for their appeal has been available to them before they appealed to the Court of Appeal.”
The accused persons had been arraigned before a Federal High Court in Abuja on November 8, 2005 on a four-count charge of conspiracy, treason, belonging to a militant group – MASSOB Army, and belonging to an unlawful society –MASSOB, charges to which they pleaded guilty and asked for bail.
They also asked the court to stop the Federal Government from prosecuting them on account of an ex-parte order for a stay of further actions granted by a Federal High Court in Owerri pending the determination of a suit they filed for the enforcement of their fundamental rights.
They had faulted the charge and prayed the trial court to dismiss it.
But in a ruling on January 27, 2006, the trial court had refused all their prayers.
Not satisfied, they approached the Court of Appeal in Abuja, which gave its judgementon May 15, 2008 granting only their prayer for bail.