President Muhammadu Buhari has said that Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the banned Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB), jumping bail during his first arrest some few years ago is discouraging authorities from considering another bail option for him.
POLITICS NIGERIA reports that Buhari also dismissed the insinuation that the detained separatist leader, was not being allowed to see his lawyers privately.
Buhari, in a statement issued on Thursday by Femi Adesina, his Special Adviser, Media and Publicity, said the Nigerian-British was being given every opportunity under the law “to justify all the uncomplimentary things he had been saying against Nigeria in Britain.”
“He felt very safe in Britain and said awful things against Nigeria. We eventually got him when he stepped out of the United Kingdom, and we sent him to court.
“Let him defend all that he has said there. His lawyers have access to him. Remember he jumped bail before, how are we sure he won’t do it again if he’s admitted to bail?” Buhari said.
Kanu, from Abia State, was first arrested in 2015 and was granted bail on medical grounds in 2017, before fleeing the country when soldiers invaded his country home. He was recaptured last year in Kenya and transferred to Nigeria. Since then, he has been in the custody of the Department of State Services (DSS) and has been brought to court severally.
