Abuja: The Federal high court in Abuja has struck out eight out of the 15-count charges filed against Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, Leader of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB), by the federal government of Nigeria.
On Friday, Justice Binta Nyako, while ruling on an application brought by Kanu’s defense team, struck out counts 6,7,9,10,11,12,13, and 14.
Kanu, the incarcerated IPOB leader will now stand trial on counts 1,2,3,4,5,8, and 15.
Chief Mike Ozekhome, lead counsel to Nnamdi Kanu, described the charges as “defective and baseless”.
The application which was based on 34 grounds and supported by a 36-paragraph affidavit, also sought an order for the court to discharge and acquit the accused.
He said his application seeks the “quashing, striking out and dismissing of the 15-count amended charge” for being “incompetent and denying the court of jurisdiction to entertain the suit”.
“You are accusing Kanu of making some broadcast. You didn’t say where these broadcasts were made. Were they made in the spirit world, in the air or under the ground?” Ozekhome asked.
But the prosecution counsel, Shuaibu Labaran, asked the court to dismiss the defendant’s application.
But Justice Nyako, in her ruling, struck out eight charges.
The IPOB is standing trial on an amended 15-count charge bordering on treasonable felony.
