TheCable

A federal high court in Abuja has granted bail to Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).

Binta Nyako, justice of the court, granted Kanu bail on “health grounds”, and asked him to produce three sureties with N100 million each.

Nyako said one of the sureties must be a senior highly placed person of Igbo extraction such as a senator.

She held that the other surety must be a highly respected Jewish leader since Kanu said his religion was Judaism, while the third person must be a highly respected person who owns landed property and is resident in Abuja.

The judge said she was convinced that Kanu was ill and needed more medical attention than the Nigerian Prisons was giving him.

“The first defendant, Nnamdi Kanu, has appealed to the court for bail based on health grounds and it is only the living that can stand trial,” she said.

“So I am minded to grant him bail so that he can attend to his health and face his trial alive.”

She also barred him from granting interviews, threatening to revoke the bail if Kanu did not comply with her orders.

She, however, ordered that while on bail, Kanu must not hold any rallies, or be in a crowd of more than 10 people.

The judge further ordered that Kanu must deposit both his Nigerian and British passports with the court and that a report on the progress of his health must be made available to her on a monthly basis.

She refused bail to the three other defendants standing trial with Kanu, namely Chidiebere Onwudiwe, Benjamin Madubugwu and David Nwawuisi.

She said although the charge of terrorism had been struck out against the defendants, the charge of treasonable felony hanging over them was a very serious offence.

Nyako also refused a second application by the three defendants seeking a review of her earlier ruling that witnesses who were security personnel should be protected.

She said although the defendants had made the application for variation of the ruling based on the grounds that the charge of terrorism had been dropped, the charge of treasonable felony was equally a grave one.

Based on this, she said she would stick to her earlier ruling that as long as the witnesses were security personnel, they would testify behind a curtain or wear a mask.

She adjourned the matter till July 11 and 12, for definite commencement of trial.

Ayodele Fayose, governor of Ekiti state, and Osita Chidoka, former minister of aviation, were in court according to them, as a sign of solidarity with Kanu.

Kanu was arrested in 2015 on an 11-count charge bordering on terrorism and treasonable felony.

Six of the charges, including that of terrorism, were struck out early in 2017.

Kanu had also been previously granted bail by Adeniyi Ademola, a judge, but was never released by the federal government.

Journalists were barred from witnessing the proceedings by the operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS).

Femi Fani-Kayode, a former minister of aviation, was also barred from entering the court.