The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) on Wednesday said it will oppose secret trial for its leader, Nnamdi Kanu. The group said a secret trial for Kanu would spell doom to the Nigeria legal system.
In statement made available to newsmen in Awka by the Spokespersons of IPOB, Dr. Ikenna Chinaka and Mrs Grace Ukpai, the group condemned Justice Binta Nyako’s assent to try Kanu secretly.
The group cited a plethora of decided cases and the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria that condemned secret trial as a modern method of justice administration.
The statement reads in part: “It is prudent to remind Justice Nyako and the entire Nigerian public and the world at large that there are existing legal interpretations of the provisions of the Constitution of Nigeria regarding the mode of criminal trials in civil courts which cannot be departed from.
“The provision dealing with fair hearing under Section 36 of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria is for the protection of all the parties to a case, the plaintiffs and the defendants alike. It will be oppressive to interpret the provision as conferring a protection on just one of the parties to a case.