A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja on Thursday fixed April 25 to deliver judgement on the application for change of the order of court o the protection of witnesses in the case against Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
Ifeanyi Ejiofor, counsel to Kanu, asked the court to set aside the order made on December 13, 2016 for the protection of witnesses.
He argued that having been acquitted of the charges of terrorism and importation of weapons, the defendants cannot be tried with the identities of witnesses concealed based on section 36(6) of the 1999 Constitution.
However, Suleiman Labaran, counsel to the federal government, in a counter affidavit called on the court to dismiss the application as a ploy to delay the trial.
February last year, Kanu had opposed the application by the federal government to conduct his trial in secret.
The federal government had in the application it filed before the High Court sitting in Abuja, said that all the witnesses billed to testify against the IPOB leader and two other pro-Biafra agitators, Benjamin Madubugwu and David Nwawuisi, who are facing trial with him, have refused to appear in court.
The government said the witnesses insisted that they would not testify against the defendants unless their safety is guaranteed.
