Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court in Abuja on
Wednesday imposed a fine of N200,000 on the Attorney-General of the Federation
(AGF) for truncating the trial of four co-defendants of Nnamdi Kanu, leader of
the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) on treasonable felony charges.
The judge ordered that each of the defendants be paid
N50,000 by the AGF for the inconveniences they suffered as a result of the
absence of the lead counsel to the Federal Government, Mr Shuaib Magaji
Labaran.
Justice Nyako, who was visibly angry with the way the trial
was truncated, ordered that the N200,000 must be paid to the defendants before
the adjourned date of March 17.
At Wednesday’s proceedings, there was no legal representation for the Federal Government at the time the matter was called.
However, as the judge was about to take the adjournment, one
Mrs Adewumi Aluko from the Federal Ministry of Justice came in and apologized
that the Federal Government’s lead counsel was out of the country.
She announced that two witnesses were in court but will not
want to proceed in the absence of the lead counsel and sought an adjournment.
Her apology did not go down well with the judge who
counselled the Federal Government to be more serious in the trial of the
defendants.
The judge also extended similar counselling to the defence
lawyers to stop using frivolous applications to delay the trial which was
started in 2015.
Meanwhile, Justice Nyako has fixed March 17 for the
resumption of the trial.
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