… May order bench warrant if …
The Abuja Division of the Federal High Court yesterday threatened to order the arrest of Senator, Eyinnaya Abaribe and another surety who failed to produce Nnamdi Kanu in court as promised.
Senator Abaribe ,Jewish priest, Immanuel Shalom and an one Tochukwu Uchendu, it would be recalled stood surety for Kanu before his disapearance.
Consequently, the presiding judge, Justice Binta Nyako has varied the bail condition given to the self-acclaim IPOB leader who is undergoing trial for alleged treason.
According to the judge, the three sureties must deposit the bond of N100 million each to the court registrar within two months and if after six months they cannot produce Kanu, they stand to forfeit their bail bond.
Nyako held that the court would make further directives after hearing the current applications by the sureties.
Trouble started when Abaribe’s lawyer, Chukwuma-Machukwu Ume, told the court that the senator was attending an oversight function and could not attend the trial.
The furious Nyako thereafter accused Senator Abaribe and the other surety for taking the court for granted, saying that no oversight function is more important than the court.
He submitted, “I want Nnamdi Kanu now, else the sureties should deposit N300 million and they have two months to pay
“Is the oversight function more important than the court? I will order for his arrest.
Abaribe and the other sureties are taken this court for granted and am making a bench warrant of arrest. That’s my view.
“The issue at hand is that I have a Nnamdi Kanu, kept him in my custody, these men (Sureties’) applied to say please, let him go that Kanu will appear when the court needs him, and these three men have vouched to stand for him and now, he is nowhere to be found
“I have found out that Kanu is not with the Army, so the sureties cannot be let out of the suretieship until you (Sureties produce him). The suretieship is between you and court and any failure to produce him means that all the sureties would forfeit their bail bond,”
This Sureties’ made a declaration that Kanu won’t go out of the country so, am not interested in the say that they saw one Nnamdi Kanu in Israel or Saudi Arabia.
These people have sworn to produce “My own Kanu”, therefore, they must come here to tell me that this is the man you gave us to keep. If at the end of the day they cannot produce my own Kanu, then they will forfeit their bail bond.
Nyako held further: “Am making an order that all your sureties’ must pay their bail bond within a time frame, failure by which their assets would be forfeited. After I make an order, you can go ahead to make an appeal.
After taken the counsels plead, the judge thereafter granted their prayers and withdrew the bench warrant order made earlier.
The trial judge has since adjourned the case till March 28
