Two legal practitioners, Gabriel Egbule and Vincent Obetta, clashed at the Wuse II Magistrates’ Court over which of them should represent the detained Director of the pirate Radio Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, at the resumed hearing on his case on Wednesday.
This resulted in a serious argument, which was not helped by absence of the Kanu at the court.
When the three-count case for which Kanu is standing trial was called up, Egbule, who represented him at the time of arraignment, announced appearance, while Obetta, an Enugu-based legal practitioner, also announced appearance on behalf of the accused.
Egbule tendered a letter from Kanu’s wife to represent him in court, but Obetta told the court that he received a consent letter from the father of the accused as well as the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, to represent Kanu.
Obetta further explained that it was as a result of his inability to appear at the arraignment that Egbule was briefed to appear in his stead.
The detained leader of the IPOB is being prosecuted on a three-count charge of criminal conspiracy, intimidation and belonging to unlawful society which he pleaded not guilty.
Prosecution Counsel, Moses Idakwo informed the court that the accused was not in court, explaining their inability to produce him on the application challenging the jurisdiction of the court to try the matter.
In his ruling, Chief Magistrate Shuaibu Ahmed, said in a criminal trial it was binding on the prosecution to bring the accused to court as required by law.
Ahmed adjourned the case till November 23 to enable prosecution produce the accused and for Kanu to decide his legal representative among the two battling attorneys.
Comments