States in the Southeast were grounded yesterday as the Federal High Court in Abuja denied to grant the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) Nnamdi Kanu bail.
IPOB had announced a sit-at-home in solidarity with its leader and there was almost total compliance.
Kanu, who is being tried for an alleged treasonable felony, had applied for bail.
In the 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.”
While the case was ongoing in Abuja, suspected IPOB members attacked a truck, killing at least one person in Delta.
IPOB has 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 also 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.
