Pro-Biafra members accuse judge of bias   

Members of a pro-Biafra secessionist group, the Biafra Zionist Federation, who are facing treason charges before an Enugu Federal High Court, have accused the presiding judge, Justice Dorothy Agishi, of bias. 

The group said that it would send petition to the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court on the complicity and bias of Dorothy Agishi in their case.

Calling on the judge to withdraw herself from the trial, the secessionists faulted Agishi’s approval of an application in which the prosecution requested a ‘secret trial’ of the 11 pro-Biafra activists. 

The prosecution had made an application asking the court to bar members of the public, apart from accredited members of the press, from the courtroom during proceedings in the case. 

But the defendants, through their counsel, Olu Omotayo, opposed the application, arguing that a secret trial would infringe on their fundamental human rights. 

However, at Wednesday’s proceedings, Justice Agishi upheld the application, a development which infuriated the secessionists. 

In his argument, the leader of the group, Benjamin Onwuka who is also a lawyer, accused the judge of bias, noting that all the rulings of the court had gone against the defendants, including the ruling on their bail application.  “The judge is not ready to dispense justice,” he added.

Speaking to journalists after the court session, Omotayo described the ruling of the court as a miscarriage of justice. “We cannot be party to secret trial of these people, the court said accredited members of the press would be allowed during the trial, but who will have the responsibility of accrediting them? “So, you can see that the entire thing boils down to secret trial. We are going to comply with the ruling, so before the next adjourned date, we shall file a written application indicating our intention to withdraw from the matter. Before that time also, the accused persons will also write formally to the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, praying him to transfer the matter to another judge,” he said

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