Lawyers representing the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, have said that Justice Binta Murtala-Nyako’s indefinite adjournment of Kanu’s case is of no effect since she had recused herself from the trial.

The position is contained in a statement signed by Kanu’s Lead Counsel, Mr. Aloy Ejimakor, reiterating Kanu’s stance that his case should be transferred to the South-East if no judge in Abuja is willing to take it.

Justice Murtala-Nyako adjourned hearing indefinitely on Monday following Kanu’s insistence that she could not preside over his case.

The judge had recused herself from the trial on September 24, 2024, after an oral application by the defence team. The case file was returned to the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice John Tsoho for re-assignment.

However, Tsoho sent Kanu’s case file back to Justice Murtala-Nyako for adjudication, insisting that a formal application must be made by the defence before the recusal could be accepted.

Explaining why the judge can no longer hear the trial, Kanu’s lawyers said in a statement: “First of all, the process by which the Honourable Justice Murtala-Nyako exited from the case as the trial judge was a ‘judicial event,’ as it emanated from the court order she made on 24th September, 2024. A plain reading of the order shows that Her Lordship graciously consented to the recusal and that alone amounts to something.

“The said order is extant and subsisting and was never appealed. So, to this day, it remains valid in all ramifications, such that strains the legality of the hearing conducted before the same judge today, 10th February.”

According to the statement: “If there’s some sort of a ‘secret official embargo’ in having Mazi Nnamdi Kanu tried in the Southeast, you cannot keep him in an endless limbo while he’s detained as an awaiting-trial,” the statement added.

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