At the resumed hearing of Nnamdi Kanu’s trial on Monday, Justice Binta Nyako declared the case adjourned indefinitely (“sin die”), citing procedural complications.
The indefinite adjournment follows Kanu’s direct confrontation with the judge, where he argued that she lacked the jurisdiction to preside over a case she had previously recused herself from.
Kanu challenged Justice Nyako to either reinstate his bail conditions or order his release from detention.
His lead counsel, Aloy Ejimakor, emphasized in a statement that her recusal on September 24, 2024, was a “judicial event” that made her functus officio—meaning she no longer had authority over the case.
Ejimakor said a plain reading of the order shows that Her Lordship graciously consented to the recusal and that alone amounts to something.
According to Ejimakor: “To be sure, her Lordship cannot review, reopen, or revisit the matter of her recusal because she no longer possesses jurisdiction and has become functus officio. The following cases (in quotes) are illustrative:
“Now, the principle of functus officio is not just a principle of procedure only. It is more of a question of jurisdiction and competence of a court of law, such as the trial court, to give a judgment and thereafter revisit it or conduct further post-judgment proceedings. The question, therefore, is whether a court can competently assume jurisdiction over a case it has concluded?
“The said order is extant and subsisting and was never appealed. So, to this day, it remains valid in all ramifications, such that strains the legality of the hearing conducted before the same judge today, February 10.
“In summation, we make bold to say that the ball is firmly and exclusively in the court of the Federal Government, in the sense that since it has proved unable to bring Mazi Nnamdi Kanu to trial within a reasonable time, the next best thing (which is also lawful and constitutional) is to end this whole saga honorably by releasing Mazi Nnamdi Kanu either through restoration of his bail or otherwise — by discontinuing a case that has been burdened by the indices of internecine politics from its inception ten years ago in 2015.”