Justice John Tsoho of the Feder­al High Court, Abuja, has refused the Federal Government’s appli­cation to completely shield witness­es in the trial of the detained lead­er of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mr Nnamdi Kanu, who is facing a six-count treason charge.

The prosecution had, in the mo­tion it filed before Justice Tsoho, com­plained that all the witnesses lined up to testify against Kanu and two other pro-Biafra agitators, Benjamin Madu­bugwu and David Nwawuisi, who are facing trial with him, have declined to appear in court.

It said the witnesses insisted that they would not testify against the de­fendants unless their safety was guar­anteed.
As a result, the prosecution coun­sel, Mr David Kaswe, urged the court to issue an order protecting the iden­tities of the witnesses by allowing them to either wear facial masks or to testify behind screens.
The prosecution also asked for an order excluding persons except journalists from witnessing the pro­ceedings.
Meanwhile, Kanu, through his lawyer, Chief Chuks Muoma (SAN), opposed the application which he said, grossly lacked merit.

He argued that section 36(4) of the 1999 Constitution made no pro­vision for masquerades to testify in a trial involving an alleged act of trea­son.
“An accused person under our ju­risprudence and justice administra­tion must be confronted with his ac­cusers eye-ball to eye-ball.
“My lord, we operate an accusa­torial system of procedure under the common law. Justice must not only be done but must be seen to have been done.

“It is not within commonsense to malign and accuse someone in pub­lic and apply to try him in the bed­room. Having been accused in pub­lic, we want to also be tried in public.“We therefore urge this court not to allow masquerades to testi­fy before it; we want to see their fac­es and ask them questions. As mas­querades, how will the court be able to gauge their demeanour and body language? Is it by the rhythm of their dance steps?

“The tenets of justice outweigh this application and we urge my lord to reject it. It has no merit whatsoever. Secret trial is for terrorism charge, it is not for the type of offence for which these defendants were charged.
“Secret trial does not apply in a case of treasonable felony or in­volvement in alleged unlawful soci­ety. During the trial, we will prove to them that we are not an illegal organ­isation”, Muoma said.

After listening to the parties, Jus­tice Tsoho stood down ruling on the matter till 2pm.
Upon his return, the trial judge ruled that the prosecution’s request to shield witnesses lacked merit.
Consequently, Justice Tsoho up­held the argument of the defence counsel that the protection of the identities of witnesses is only appli­cable to terrorism charges.

It would be recalled that Kanu who was the Director of Radio Bi­afra and Television, has been in de­tention since October 14, 2015, when he was arrested by security personnel upon his arrival to the country from the United Kingdom.

The defendants were alleged to have committed treasonable felo­ny, an offence punishable under Sec­tion 41(C) of the Criminal Code Act, CAP C38 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria.
FG alleged that they were the ones managing the affairs of the IPOB which it described as “an unlawful so­ciety”.
The suit has been adjourned till March 7 for trial.