Nnamdi Kanu: We'll Resist Trial Under Sharia Law - IPOB

The Indigenous Peo­ples of Biafra (IPOB) have warned against the trial of their leader, Nnamdi Kanu, under Sh­aria Law.
The group said that since Kanu is a Christian, the Federal High Court has no business citing any aspect of the Sharia Law in the his ongoing prosecution by the Federal Government.
IPOB accused Justice Binta Nyako of judicial som­ersault in ruling that Kanu and others would be tried secretly.

In a statement by its Me­dia and Publicity Secretary, Mr. Emma Powerful, IPOB alleged that: “Justice Nyako is biased and therefore should disqualify herself from handling the case; her withdrawal from the case has become imperative be­cause we do not have any confidence that our leader and others standing trial in the matter will ever get justice as far as she continues to handle the case.”

“Her ruling on Monday proves to the entire world that the Nigerian govern­ment and Justice Binta Nya­ko are biased. The present government of the All Pro­gressives Congress (APC) should stop Islamising Ni­geria; this is important be­cause it is not only Muslims that are in Nigeria.”
“We are disturbed at the type of judicial somer­sault we are seeing in Jus­tice Binta Nyako’s court. How can the same judge who ruled against the se­cret trial of our leader now turn around and proclaim to allow the ‘masquerades’ to testify against our lead­er Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and others?”
“Are they trying to ap­ply Sharia Law in a matter that concerns a Christian? We are not going to allow the Sharia Law to prevail or be used in trying the Chris­tians in Nigeria. Nigerians should stand up now before it is too late to challenge this injustice being perpetrated against Kanu and others”.
Justice Nyako had on Monday declared that the bail applications by Kanu’s lawyer, Mr. Ifeanyi Ejiofor, would not stall the trial of the accused who is still be­ing prosecuted on her order predicated on the protection and shielding of witnesses.
“Nothing can change my order in the protection of the witnesses,” she had said.
The judge thereafter asked if Ejiofor studied a part of the Sharia Law while in school, stressing that if he had done so, he would have learned more about the pro­tection of witnesses.
Justice Nyako added that Ejiofor would have also known that a woman’s iden­tity is protected in court in the context of the Sharia Law.
She therefore held that the witnesses will wear masks and must not be fa­cially identified, else the court will divide itself with a non-transparent materi­al against public view. She added that as long as the wit­nesses are security agents, their identities will be pro­tected for the sake of the future, while non-security agents will be seen by mem­bers of the public.
“I am not ready to jeop­ardise the protection of the security operatives,” she de­clared.