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June 19, 2025

Alleged Terrorism: I’ve no case to answer, Kanu tells court

Kanu raises alarm, alleges tricks by FG to perpetually hold him down Leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, has drawn attention to what he described as serial executive and judicial fraud being perpetrated against him since his extraordinary rendition in 2021. In an open letter addressed to Nigerians yesterday, Kanu said: ‘’In a judgment entered on March 1, 2017, the Federal High Court, Abuja, ruled that the ‘IPOB is not an unlawful group’. At the time, it received widespread publicity which can be verified. ‘’This landmark ruling (made by the court before it turned unjust) emanated in a criminal proceedings that required ‘proof beyond reasonable doubt’ and in which the federal government and my humble self presented our respective cases. ‘’Alas! Instead of the federal government to go on appeal as the law mandated (if they are dissatisfied with the judgment), the former Attorney-General (Abubakar Malami) went behind closed doors with a letter signed by late Abba Kyari and got IPOB proscribed/tagged a terrorist group in an ex parte proceedings that conducted without notice to me or to the IPOB. ‘’This abominable incident was the earliest sign yet that the government and its judiciary have struck an unholy and fraudulent alliance to deny me my rights and thereby imperil the life and liberty of millions who identity with IPOB. ‘’On October 26, 2022, a Federal High Court declared my extraordinary rendition and detention as unconstitutional, stating that: ‘the manner of arrest and detention of the Applicant (Mazi Nnamdi Kanu) in Kenya, his continued detention in Abuja, his subjection to physical and mental trauma by the Respondents, the inhuman and degrading treatment meted out to the Applicant amounts to a brazen violation of the Applicant’s fundamental right to dignity of his person and threat to life under Section 34 (1)(a) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended).’ ‘’The court further ordered the federal government to apologize to me and pay me compensation. In a responsible society and well-ordered, run by a responsible government, this judgment is sufficient to have ended my lengthy detention and encourage the federal government to constructively engage me on the issue of the self-determination agitation that triggered this whole saga. ‘’Pedal back to October 13, 2022, when the Court of Appeal held that: ‘The courts must never shy away from calling the executive to order when they resort to acts of ‘executive lawlessness.’ ‘’The duty of the courts is to maintain a balance between ensuring that law and order is obeyed and the protection of the individual from oppressive actions by the executive. ‘’By the forcible abduction and extraordinary rendition of the Appellant (Mazi Nnamdi Kanu) from Kenya to this country on the 27th day of June 2021, in violation of international and state laws, the lower court or, indeed, any court in this country is divested of jurisdiction to entertain charges against the Appellant’. ‘’Despite the clarity of this judgment and its comportment with reason, the federal government refused to release me from detention while it went behind closed doors and connived with three other justices of the court of appeal who fraudulently and swiftly sat on appeal over the judgment and practically destroyed it by issuing what they termed ‘a stay of execution’. ‘’One may then ask: Is it not abominable for a court to stay a judgment the government already disobeyed? In a plethora of cases, the Supreme Court has held that anybody who disobeys a related court order cannot be given any judicial relief until such order is obeyed. ‘’This is a sound reasoning that applied to everybody but is fraudulently overlooked when it comes to my case. Fast forward to 15th December 2023 when the Supreme Court sent back my case to the Federal High Court for trial. ‘’For avoidance of doubt, that was not the only decision the Supreme Court made. It also decided that my bail should not have been revoked and it went on to state clearly that the judge exhibited significant and unacceptable bias by revoking my bail. ‘’In a sane society, one would expect that when the High court received my case from the Supreme Court and hankered down for trial, it was also duty-bound to restore my bail in line with the pronouncement of the apex court. ‘’But that did not happen. Why? Well, your guess is as good as mine and that is: the Court connived with the federal government to continue my detention in violation of Section 287 of the Nigerian Constitution. ‘’On September 24, 2024, I decided that I have had enough of taking my chances at getting justice from a judge that, in June 2021, sent me to secret police detention without fair hearing, later refused to transfer me to prison to better prepare for my trial and capped it all by refusing to restore my bail and instead ordering an accelerated trial in the face of the reality that I will never get a fair trial whilst detained at the DSS. ‘’These are the major reasons that compelled me to request recusal of the judge and having consented to it, she proceeded to make an order removing herself from my case. That order was never challenged on appeal; thus it remains extant to this day. ‘’But instead of the Chief judge of the Federal High Court to do the lawful thing by assigning my case to another judge, he connived with the federal government to eat crow and send my case to a judge that stands recused by a valid order. ‘’To conclude this open letter, let me make it clear that it should in no way be construed to mean that there are no decent judges in Nigeria that can be trusted to deliver even-handed justice in my case. That is not the issue. ‘’Instead, the issue is that my case is deliberately being shielded from judges and justices that are deemed to be committed to doing justice, even when it means that the federal government must lose. ‘’Be that as it may, if it will take the rest of my life in detention to produce me before a proper and impartial court, so be it. But let me say this for the world to know: I will not succumb to any trial conducted by any judge or court whose jurisdiction does not pass constitutional muster. Not now, not ever.’’

Nnamdi Kanu

…as FG closes case with evidence of 5 witnesses

By Ikechukwu Nnochiri

ABUJA– The Detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu, who is facing a seven-count terrorism and treasonable felony charge, on Thursday, told the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja that he has no case to answer.

Kanu took the position shortly after the Federal Government which is prosecuting him, announced its decision to close its case.

FG wrapped up its case after the fifth prosecution witness, PW-5, concluded his testimony and was discharged by the court.

The witness, whose name was shielded, was simply identified as EEE before he gave his testimony behind a protective screen.

Upon the conclusion of his cross-examination by a member of Kanu’s legal team, Dr. Onyechi Ikpeazu, SAN, FG’s counsel, Chief Adegboyega Awomolo, SAN, informed the court that he would no longer produce any witness to testify in the matter.

Awomolo, SAN, said the prosecution team was satisfied that from the avalanche of evidence tendered through the five witnesses, the government had effectively established the charge against the defendant.

“I will therefore, at this juncture, close the case of the prosecution,” the senior lawyer added.

Following the announcement, the head of Kanu’s defence team, Chief Kanu Agabi, SAN, notified the court about his clients decision to enter a no-case-submission in the matter.

A no-case submission is made when a defendant is convinced that the totality of evidence that was adduced by the prosecution, failed to establish a prima-facie case that is capable of warranting the court to compel him to enter his defence to the charge.

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Should the application succeed, the defendant would be discharged by the court, thus marking an end to the trial.

In view of Kanu’s decision, trial Justice James Omotosho gave his legal team and that of FG, 14 days each to file written addresses and two days to file their reply on points of law.

The case was subsequently adjourned till July 18 for adoption of the no-case-submission.

Earlier in the proceeding, FG, through the PW-5, tendered in evidence, a report it said linked the embattled IPOB leader to the killing of 186 police officers as well as destruction of 164 police stations during the EndSARS protests that took place in 2020.

The witness, who is an operative of the Department of State Services, DSS, told the court that he was part of a team that was deployed to gather intelligence and compile reports on the impact of violence that trailed the protest.

He told the court that he got to know Kanu through the media though they they never met in person.

He told the court that his mandate was to record all the destructions of public properties and deaths of security operatives that occurred as a result of Kanu’s radio broadcasts.

Among items he tendered, which were admitted in evidence by the court, included a damage assessment report, death certificates of some security officers, as well as a certificate of compliance.

Kanu’s lawyer challenged the admissibility of the exhibits, saying he would adduce his reason in the defendant’s final written address.

It will be recalled that Kanu was arrested on October 14, 2015, upon his return to the country from the United Kingdom.

Following his arraignment, the court, on April 25, 2017, granted him bail on health ground after he had spent about 18 months in detention.

Upon the perfection of the bail conditions, he was on April 28, 2017, released from the Kuje prison.

However, midway into the trial, the IPOB leader escaped from the country after soldiers invaded his country home at Afara Ukwu Ibeku in Umuahia, Abia State, an operation that led to the death of some of his followers.

Kanu was later re-arrested in Kenya on June 19, 2021 and extraordinarily renditioned back to the country by security agents on June 27, 2021.

Owing to the development, the trial court, on June 29, 2021, remanded him in custody of DSS, where he remained till date.

On April 8, 2022, the court struck out eight out of the 15-count charge that FG preferred against him on the premise that they lacked substance.

Likewise, the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal, on October 13, 2022, ordered Kanu’s immediate release from detention even as it quashed the charge against him.

Dissatisfied with the decision, FG took the matter before the Supreme Court, even as it persuaded the appellate court to suspend the execution of the judgement, pending the determination of its appeal.

While deciding the appeal, the Supreme Court, on December 15, 2023, vacated the judgement of the appellate court and gave FG the nod to try the IPOB leader on the subsisting seven-count charge.

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