A federal high court in Abuja has ordered the arrest of Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
At its sitting on Thursday, Binta Nyako, justice of the court, issued an arrest warrant against Kanu, citing the continued absence of the IPOB leader in court.
The court also revoked the bail which it granted the IPOB leader in 2017, and directed the proceeding will still continue even in his absence. Kanu, who is facing trial for alleged treason, was granted bail in April 2017 for health reasons.
He, however, skipped bail after flouting all the conditions given to him by the court. The IPOB leader subsequently went into hiding during a military operation in the south-east where he is from, only to reappear after one year in Israel.
In October last year, he said he jumped his bail to pursue the cause of Biafra.
“Their problem is Nnamdi Kanu and the solution to their problem is referendum. They gave me conditional bail to cage me and IPOB but I refused,” he had said during a broadcast.
“We are not going to vote because we’re too intelligent for that nonsense. I am not interested in the politics of Biafrans, all I want for my people is freedom.”
In November, Isaiah Ayugu, a lawyer, had told the court to hold Eyinnaya Abaribe, a senator from Abia state and Femi Fani-Kayode, a former minister of aviation, accountable for Kanu’s absence over the role they played in his release after he was granted bail,
But the duo said they are innocent of the allegations and can only disprove them by being joined as a party in the suit.