On Wednesday, the Department of State Services followed the instruction of a Federal High Court in Abuja not to block the court premises and surroundings ahead of the trial of Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
According to the Nigerian News Agency (NAN), the trial judge, Binta Nyako, who scheduled today’s hearing at 1 p.m., advised the DSS officials to inform their headquarters about her suggestion.
Despite the fact that Nyako did not issue a formal order prohibiting the security firm from carrying out such an act, she stated that doing so would allow the court’s business to continue.
A check at the court early in the morning showed that FHC staff, lawyers, litigants, journalists, among others, had free access into the high-rise building and its surroundings.
And as at the time of filing the report, there was free movement of people and vehicles within and outside the court
NAN reports that the judge had, on Jan. 19, advice the DSS not to take over the security arrangement of the court today until 12pm.
The court instructed DSS to only take control of the court security arrangement when the trial of Kanu, on terrorism charges, resumes.
Nyako had claimed that the massive security presence and obstruction of highways leading to the court have hampered the trials of other cases each time Kanu’s trial is held.
She then postponed the terrorism trial until 1 p.m. in order to accommodate other cases.