The Southeast was grounded yesterday as the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) Nnamdi Kanu was denied bail by the Federal High Court in Abuja.

IPOB had announced a sit-at-home in solidarity with its leader and there was almost total compliance. But it was not without the incident.

While the case was ongoing in Abuja, suspected IPOB members attacked a truck, killing at least one person in Delta.

But IPOB said its members were not responsible for the attacks in the Southeast and urged the region and security agencies to fish out the perpetrators.

It denied enforcing the Monday sit-at-home that is crippling the region’s economy. “As our leader said, what is happening in our land is sacrilegious and there is no sense in anyone claiming that IPOB has turned against the people we are fighting for,” the group said. Kanu, who is being tried for an alleged treasonable felony, had applied for bail.

Ruling yesterday, Justice Binta Nyako held that the defendant did not deserve to be granted bail the second time having abused the one.

The judge said: “Until the issue of absence of the defendant for his trial, with all the bail conditions breached, is determined, the instant application of the defendant for bail will at best be premature and it is refused.

“However, the defendant is at liberty to refile the application.” The judge noted that substantial progress had not been made in the trial because of the many interlocutory applications filed since commencement in 2015.

According to her, over 19 such applications have been filed by parties. The judge asked parties to allow the case to proceed to trial to enable the charge to be determined one way or the other. Justice Nyako struck out the amended charge.

Lead defence lawyer, Mike Ozekhome (SAN), drew the court’s attention to the amended charge, which he said was the seventh by the prosecution intended to further delay the case.

Prosecuting counsel, David Kaswe, faulted Ozekhome’s claim that the amended charge was intended to delay proceedings.

He suggested that the trial could proceed pending when the amended charge was adopted.

He said the amendment did not substantially alter the existing charge, a position Ozekhome countered.

The SAN said: “In the new amended charge, they attached a lot of new pieces of evidence and documents, including the pictures of lawyers waiting to have a meeting with the defendant which they took with their hidden cameras.”

Justice Nyako said the court had taken judicial notice of the amended charge and that trial could not continue on the previous charge.

Following the judge’s observation, Kaswe applied to withdraw the amended charge, following which the judge struck it out.

The prosecution had, in the amended charge, listed some lawyers in Kanu’s legal team, including Ifeanyi Ejiofor and Maxwell Opara, as accomplices.

It claimed that the lawyers were constantly in contact with Kanu after he jumped bail and fled the country.

Further hearing in the case has been adjourned till May 26.

Suspected IPOB members attack truck

There was tension in Ugbolu community and environs in Delta State following an attack by suspected IPOB members on two trucks, a commercial motorcycle and an Audi car.

They blocked the Ugbolu/Illah Road at Mile 5, shooting indiscriminately.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the driver and his conductor were killed and a truck was set ablaze.

Motorists and residents fled into the bush for fear of being hit by stray bullets.

A commercial driver, Mr John Okafor, told NAN that the attackers blocked the road and ordered the truck driver to alight.

“They used logs of wood to block the road and searched every vehicle plying the route, saying they were enforcing orders of the IPOB.