November 17, 2017

The Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai, has asked the Federal High Court, Abuja to dismiss a suit, seeking to compel him to produce the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.

Kanu’s lawyer, Mr Ifeanyi Ejiofor on Thursday brought an application before the court, praying court to order Buratai to produce Kanu dead or alive.

Ejiofor told court that his client was last seen with the Nigerian Army on Sept. 14 and that neither he (Ejiofor) nor Kanu’s family had seen or heard from Kanu since then.

Opposing the motion, however, Buratai through his counsel, Mr Akinlolu Kehinde, told court that Kanu was not and had never been in the custody of the Nigerian Army.

“The Nigerian Army did not at any time arrest or take Kanu into its custody within the period the military operation lasted in the South-East.”

The lawyer argued that there was no document before the court to prove that Kanu was in the custody of the army, noting that the onus was on Kanu to prove that he was taken by the army.

Kehinde urged the court to dismiss the application on the ground that it was laden with speculations, conjecture and assumptions which, he said were not admissible in law.

A counter-affidavit deposed to by Col. A.A. Yusuf also claimed that the alleged invasion of Kanu’s house during the period of the operation was false.

After hearing arguments from both counsel, Justice Binta Nyako adjourned the matter until Dec. 13 to give her ruling.