Federal High Court reassigns Kanu’s trial to another judge

By Ifeoma Nwovu

The Chief Judge of the Federal High Court in Abuja, Justice John Tsoho, has reassigned the trial of Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), to a new judge.

Confirming the latest development in the high-profile case, Kanu’s lead counsel, Aloy Ejimakor, disclosed this in a statement on Saturday.

The reassignment was followed by Kanu’s repeated requests for Justice Binta Nyako to recuse herself from the trial, citing concerns over impartiality.

While Justice Nyako had previously returned the case file to the Chief Judge, it was later reassigned to her, a move which Kanu and his legal team strongly opposed.

On February 20, Kanu’s lawyers formally petitioned the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, seeking her intervention.

Ejimakor revealed that the legal team had received two separate letters from the Chief Justice of Nigeria and the Chief Judge of the lower court confirming the case’s reassignment.

“Yesterday, before the legal team conducted our routine visitation to Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, we received two separate official letters regarding his case. The letters are momentous and somewhat pyrrhic.

“One letter was from the Honourable Chief Justice of Nigeria, responding to a recent letter we had written to her, seeking her prompt administrative intervention (as the administrative head of the Nigerian judiciary) on the matter of a proper and lawful reassignment of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s case, following the recusal of the judge that was conducting it.

“The other letter was from the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, informing us that the case has been reassigned to another judge of the Federal High Court.”