The intense security that accompanied Biafra nation agitator Nnamdi Kanu’s visit to the Federal High Court in Abuja on Tuesday foiled the trial of five followers of Rivers State Governor Siminalayi Fubara on terrorism-related charges from proceeding.

The trial was put on hold because the attorneys for the Indigenous People of Biafra, or IPOB, leader Kanu, were unable to enter the courtroom after DSS agents set up checkpoints during his trial for identical offenses.

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The Inspector General of Police, or IGP, has charged five persons: Osiga Donald, Ochueja Thankgod, Kenneth Goodluck Kpasa, Prince Lukman Oladele, and Chime Eguma Ezebalike. All five men are accused of terrorism-related offenses.

They attempted to contest both the court’s territorial jurisdiction and the validity of the terrorism allegations brought against them.

Their respective attorneys were unable to enter the courtroom, despite the fact that prison officials were successful in getting them there.

In order to prevent any security lapses during the Biafra Nation agitator’s appearance in the court locations, fully armed and intimidating-looking DSS agents seized control of all the routes leading to the court on Tuesday morning.

Consequently, the security personnel turned back litigants and some attorneys, causing several proceedings in other courts to be hastily adjourned.

The defendants’ trial was originally scheduled for 12 o’clock in the afternoon, but Judge Mobolaji Olajuwon moved it to 2 o’clock in order to provide the attorneys access to the court.

But by 2:00 pm, with Kanu’s trial before Judge Binta Nyako continuing and security still tight, Justice Olajuwon issued an order postponing the trial at the request of the few attorneys who managed to reach the courtroom.

The trial was moved to April 16 in accordance with the consent of the few attorneys present, the day before Nnamdi Kanu’s resumption of his trial on comparable terrorism-related allegations.

The five defendants were then ordered to be sent back to Kuje jail in Abuja to complete their custody, by Judge Olajuwon.

One of the individuals that appeared in court was Simon Lough, SAN, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, who was representing the IGP.

On January 25, the IGP attacked the terrorist allegations against them for allegedly breaking into, damaging, and burning down the Rivers State House of Assembly the previous year.

They were charged with carrying out the claimed terrorist acts in the aftermath of the political unrest that shook Port Harcourt in October of last year.

Police said in the charges against them, which were filed under the file number FHC/ABJ/CR/25/2024, that in addition to setting fire to the State House of Assembly, some of them also murdered five police informants in the Ahoada hamlet in the state and Bako Agbashim, the Superintendent of Police.

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The following individuals are said to have been murdered by the defendants: Saturday Edi, Charles Osu, Ogbonna Eja, Idaowuka Felix, and Paul Victor Chibuogu.

Additionally, they are suspected of wreaking havoc on the state’s citizens and their business endeavors by means of a number of cult organizations, including the Supreme Viking Confraternity, Degbam, Iceland, and Greenland.

They are specifically accused of planning to carry out acts of terrorism on October 29, 2023, at Moscow Road in Port Harcourt by deliberately attacking, destroying, and setting fire to the Rivers State House of Assembly. This offense is punishable under Section 26 of the Terrorism Prevention and Prohibition Act 2022.

Despite their denial of the charges, the defendants were remanded in Kuje Prison in Abuja because they were unable to convince the judge to grant them release given the seriousness of the charges against them.