THE trial of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, will resume today at the Federal High Court, Abuja, after a four-year break.
Kanu, who fled the country after the military raided his Abia State country home in September 2017, was re-arrested by Interpol on June 27.
The Federal Government arraigned the separatist leader on an 11-count charge of terrorism, treasonable felony, managing an unlawful society, publication of defamatory matter, illegal possession of firearms, and improper importation of goods, among others.
While the government has maintained sealed lips on how the activist was arrested, IPOB and his family claimed he was apprehended during a trip to Kenya.
But the Kenyan government had since dismissed the claim.
The activist’s arrest had sparked an angry response among Biafran separatists and other Nigerians who are supportive of his cause.
The World Igbo Congress had declared the IPOB leader’s arrest as an “illegal abduction and international gangsterism.”
During his arraignment in court on June 29, Kanu told Justice Binta Nyako the Nigerian military forced him to flee the country in 2017.
Meanwhile, IPOB members kept good of their promise to storm Abuja for their leader’s trial today.
The police this morning chased some members of the proscribed group who showed up in court.
Aggrieved members of the group had arrived the court ahead of his trial.
The group had vowed to storm the court in a statement issued by its spokesman, Emma Powerful, after the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, warned the members to stay away from the court premises.
The AGF also warned against the display of branded IPOB T-shirts or caps around the court premises.
However, IPOB insisted that no amount of threats would stop its members and other pro-Biafran groups from storming the court in large numbers.
Pictures of the group members travelling from different parts of the country to Abuja for the trial had also surfaced on social media.
There were reports that operatives of the Department of State Service (DSS) had cordoned off the court premises ahead of the well-publicised trial.
