The Federal High Court, Abuja, has fixed November 10 for hearing the application of Nnamdi Kanu, challenging the competency of the charge preferred against him by the Federal Government.
The curt presided over by Justice Binta Nyako, also rejected Nnamdi Kanu’s request to be transferred to Kuje Correctional Center.
Kanu, the detained leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra, (IPOB), had filed an application before the Court seeking to be transferred from the custody of the Department of State Service, DSS, to the Nigerian Correctional Service Centre in Kuje.
Justice Binta Nyako, on Thursday, fixed the November 10 date after counsel to Kanu, Ifeanyi Ejiofor, informed that he had a notice of preliminary objection challenging the fresh seven-count charge filed against his client.
Pictures Of Nnamdi Kanu In Court For Trial Today
Counsel to the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Mohammed Abubakar, had earlier told the court that an amended seven counts had already been filed and he prayed the court for the charges to be read to Kanu to take his plea.
Following the complaint by the legal team, the judge ordered that three people, of Kanu’s choice, be allowed to visit him every Thursday at the DSS facility.
While journalists were not allowed into the courtroom by the operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS), Ejiofor briefed the media shortly after the proceedings.
He said a notice of preliminary objection filed to challenge the amended charge would be taken by the court on Nov. 10.
The application, marked: FHC/ABJ/CR/3832015 dated Oct. 18 and filed Oct. 20 by Ejiofor, sought for two orders of the court.
“AN ORDER striking out/quashing and or dismissing the seven-count amended charge, specifically, counts 1 to 7 preferred against the defendant/applicant (Kanu) in the amended charge No: FHC/ABJ/CR/383/2015, for the reason that the counts, as constituted, are incompetent and thus, deprives the Honourable Court of jurisdiction to entertain the same.
“AN ORDER of the Honourable Court discharging and acquitting the defendant/applicant of all the counts in the seven-count amended charge preferred against the defendant/applicant, upon the same being struck out/quashed and/or dismissed,” it reads.
The application was filed on 31 grounds, among which were “that no allegation was made in any of the counts of the amended charge that the alleged sundry acts of the defendant/Applicant were physically carried out by him, within the geographical space or territorial boundaries of Nigeria; that the only element requisite to constitute and found liability for incitement is the actual words allegedly uttered by the defendant/applicant.”
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