Court threatens Nnamdi Kanua��s sureties

Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court, Abuja has asked the prosecution to issue an enrolled order for the appearance before it the three sureties in the trial of leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu.
Kanu, who is being tried for alleged treason, was expected to be produced in court by his sureties, Senator Eyinnaya Abaribe, a Jewish priest, Immanuu-El Shalom, and an accountant, resident in Abuja, Tochukwu Uchendu.
Kanu has not been seen since September 2017 when soldiers on a�?Operation Python Dancea�? invaded his residence in Aba, Abia State.
Justice Nyako had asked the sureties to either explain why their N100 million bond should not be forfeited, produce the defendant or be remanded in prison.
Although the court repeatedly made the order, the prosecution was yet to serve the defence counsel with the court summons on the matter.
Nyako adjourned the case for the sureties to respond to the demand by the court.
At the resumption of the matter, however, counsel for the sureties, Chukwuma Machukwu Umeh (SAN), said that his client had not been served with court papers on the order made by the judge.
He therefore made a fresh application for an order demanding that the prosecution serves the sureties with copies of the order, as made by the court.
Umeh argued that responding to the verbal order could render the entire process legally defective.
The other lawyers in the defence team aligned themselves with his application.
In his response, the prosecution counsel, Shaibu Labaran, asked the court to resist sacrificing the demand for justice on the altar of technicalities.
Labaran disagreed with the submission of the defence that an enrolled order was necessary to ensure compliance to the instructions made in court.
He described the fresh application as a a�?conspiracya�? to set back the matter before the court and demanded its dismissal.
The judge granted the request by the defence, but noted that the application was an evidence of their lack of readiness to proceed with the matter.
a�?What is clear is that you are not ready,a�? Justice Nyako said.
a�?The sureties are to be served with the order of this court: to show cause why they should not forfeit their bond or to produce the defendant in the next adjourned date, with the alternative to go to prison,a�? she added.