IPOB: Nobody can hold me liable if Kanu does not show up in court – Senator

The senator representing Abia-South District, Enyinnaya Abaribe, says he is not liable if the leader of the Indigenous People Of Biafra, IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu, does not show up in court on October 17 for continuation of his trial for alleged treasonable offences.
Mr. Abaribe was one of three sureties in the bail for Mr. Kanu in the case. The other sureties are a Jewish priest, Immanuel Shalom, and an accountant and Abuja resident, Tochukwu Uchendu.
The IPOB leader who is currently facing trial for alleged treason, was last seen on September 14 when a clash occurred between members of his group and Nigerian soldiers on an army exercise in Abia State.
Mr. Kanu was granted bail in April on health grounds with 12 main conditions, most of which the Nigerian government has accused him of flouting. The trial is scheduled to continue on October 17.
Mr. Abaribe, during an interview on ARISE News on Thursday, alleged that the IPOB leader’s disappearance followed the invasion of his home in Abia State by troops of the Nigerian Army.
The senator said the army breached the deal they (sureties) had with the federal government by invading Mr. Kanu’s home before the court date, adding that no one could say whether Mr. Kanu is dead or alive after the invasion.
“He was supposed to appear in court on October 17. It was our job as sureties to produce him in court. We have been speaking with him.
“I spoke with him around August 23. I had to invite him to a meeting with the South-east Senate caucus in my home at Obingwa in Abia.
 
“We discussed and we told him what we felt and where he was going out of bound and we told him to confine himself to the laws of the land.
“Now, I spoke to him on September 14, and it was same day that the military moved into his place,” Mr. Abaribe said.
The senator said he had not been able to speak with Mr. Kanu since the incident at his home, because the number he used to reach the IPOB leader had been switched off.
According to him, nobody knows Mr. Kanu’s whereabouts presently.
“The real question is why will you go one month before his appearance in court to effect an arrest, to kill him or whatever?
“So we felt that you cannot hold me responsible if you didn’t wait for the date he was supposed to be in court.”
Meanwhile, Mr. Kanu’s lawyer, Ifeanyi Ejiofor, has sued the Nigerian Army asking it to produce his client in court.
The Nigerian government recently secured a court order to declare IPOB a terrorist organisation.
The proscription of IPOB was gazetted by the Nigerian government on Thursday.
The labelling of IPOB, which seeks an independent country of Biafra for ethnic Igbos, as a terrorist organisation has elicited mixed reactions among Nigerians.