Nigerian court rejects separatist leader Kanu's second bail bid

Nigeria's High Court rejected a second application for bail from separatist leader Nnamdi Kanu and ordered him to face trial on Nov. 14 on charges of terrorism and broadcasting falsehoods. An attempt by Igbo separatists to secede as the Republic of Biafra in 1967 - the year that Kanu was born - triggered a three-year civil war that killed more than 1 million people.

Nigeria's High Court rejected a second application for bail from separatist leader Nnamdi Kanu and ordered him to face trial on Nov. 14 on charges of terrorism and broadcasting falsehoods. Kanu, a British citizen, was first refused bail in March after his arrest last year in Kenya after years on the run.

"The present application amounts to an abuse of court process for attempting to relitigate an issue already decided by the court," Judge Binta Nyako said, adding that Kanu could appeal against her decision. Kanu, who is in jail awaiting trial and denies the charges against him, founded the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) in 2014. The group has been pressing for the secession of a part of southeast Nigeria where the majority of the population belongs to the Igbo ethnic group.

Authorities, however, view IPOB as a terrorist group and blames it on a spate of killings and attacks on government buildings in the southeast. IPOB says it wants to achieve independence through non-violent means. An attempt by Igbo separatists to secede as the Republic of Biafra in 1967 - the year that Kanu was born - triggered a three-year civil war that killed more than 1 million people.