The secret trial of Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indegineous People of Biafra, IPOB, is expected to begin on Tuesday, after Justice Binta Nyako, controversially ruled in favour of an application by the Department of State Security, DSS, that the trial be held behind closed doors.

Kanu was arrested by the secret police in Lagos in October 2015, but he has been granted bail once, rearrested once and then remained in custody since then, despite court orders to release him.

Charges brought against him include criminal conspiracy and treason.

In December, Justice Nyako granted the prosecution’s application asking that the trial be held in secret.

Some human rights groups, including Amnesty International, AI, had reported that following Kanu’s arrest and detention, protests held in the South Eastern region of Nigeria, where he hails from, led to the killing of dozens of people.

AI said that the military had sought to squash the IPOB movement and has killed at least 150 pro-Biafra activists since August 2015; but the Police and security forces dispute that version of events, maintaining that the demonstrators had attacked them.

Justice Nyako agreed with the DSS that there was need for the prosecution witnesses to be shielded from intimidation and violence, hence the reason the trial should continue in secret.

Kanu’s lawyer, Ifeanyi Ejiofor, however, rejects the idea.

“They have the security to protect their witnesses. Why are they afraid?” Ejiofor queried.

“We are also talking about the fundamental human rights of the defendants who are being falsely accused.

“So we want to see the people coming to give evidence against them eyeball to eyeball. There should be no form of shielding. It is totally unacceptable to us and we cannot take it,” he said.

Before his arrest, Kanu was the head of Radio Biafra, which presses for the restoration of the Republic of Biafra.