The detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, on Tuesday declined to take fresh plea in his ongoing trial bordering on alleged terrorism and treason charges levelled against him.
Kanu, it will be recalled, had a seven count charge slammed on him at the inception.
But at today’s proceedings, eight more charges were added by the federal government, increasing his charges to 15.
Kanu, through his team of lawyers led by a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Chief Mike Ozekhome, accused the federal government of denying his client the necessary facility to defend the charges against him.
Ozekhome told the court that the amended charge was served on them barely 24 hours to the scheduled hearing and would need adequate time to study same.
“My lord, the proposed amended charge was served on us yesterday evening. As I speak to you my lord, the defendant who was just brought in, has not even seen the charge which he is being told to enter his plea.
“With due respect, that is not justice. It is ambushing. I know that the Administration of Criminal Justice Act ( ACJA) allows them to amend, but this is the 6th amendment they are making, and each time they do it, they serve us a day to the hearing, just to frustrate the trial,” Ozekhome added.
On his part, the prosecution team, led by Mr. Mohammed Labaran from the Federal Ministry of Justice, said he was not opposed to the court granting a short adjournment to enable the defence lawyers to study the charge.
Meanwhile, before adjourning the case till Wednesday, trial judge, Justice Binta Nyako, ordered the Department of State Services (DSS) to allow Kanu to have a change of cloth.
“I don’t want to see him in this cloth again. This one is almost off-white. Also make sure that you allow him to exercise,” Justice Nyako added.
