… You’ve no evidence against me, Kanu tells FG
…defend the charge against you, FG fires back
By Ikechukwu Nnochiri
ABUJA– The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, on Friday, slated October 10 to rule on a motion that is seeking to stop the ongoing trial of the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.
Kanu, in the application he filed through his team of lawyers led by a former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Chief Kanu Agabi, SAN, is praying the court to discharge and acquit him of the seven-count terrorism and treasonable felony charge the Federal Government initiated against him.
The embattled IPOB leader maintained that the federal government failed to adduce any credible evidence to nail him to the charge.
According to him, neither documentary nor oral evidence of the five witnesses that testified in the matter, established a prima facie case that could warrant the court to compel him to enter his defence to the charge.
Therefore, he urged the court to uphold a no-case-submission he filed to terminate further proceedings in the matter.
Arguing the application on Friday, the defence lawyer, Chief Agabi, SAN, stressed that though FG accused his client of inciting violence in the country, it failed to call any witness to tell the court how he or she was incited by the defendant to commit crime.
He noted that the witnesses were operatives of the Department of the State Service, DSS, who admitted that their roles were limited to obtaining statements from the defendant.
Agabi, SAN, further argued that no report of investigation on the terrorism allegation against Kanu was made available to the court.
He drew the attention of the court to the fact that though the charge was amended eight times, no witness was produced to give evidence on how he or she was affected by violence that was allegedly instigated by the defendant.
He argued that Kanu’s broadcasts were misconstrued as he only urged people to defend themselves against marauding killers, adding that the defendant was merely boasting when he threatened to bring down the world.
Agabi, SAN, argued that asking Nigerians to defend themselves was a constitutional right that has been re-echoed by notable citizens that included the Director General of the DSS, Mr. Adeola Ajayi and a former Minister of Defence, General Theophilus Danjuma, rtd.
More so, he faulted the prolonged detention of his client in solitary confinement for over six years, saying the action was in breach of international laws that stipulated that no one should be kept in a solitary confinement for more than 15 days.
Agabi, SAN, equally faulted the proscription of IPOB without the President’s approval.
“Without the President’s approval there can not be any proscription.
“We are saying there is no proscription, because there is no presidential approval, if they have it, they should bring it,” he added.
Besides, he queried the jurisdiction of the court to try the charge relating to Kanu’s alleged unlawful importation of a radio transmitter into the country.
On its part, FG urged the court to dismiss the no-case-submission and order Kanu to open his defence to the charge against him.
The prosecution counsel, Chief Adegboyega Awomolo, SAN, said the court should direct the defendant to explain why he engaged in terrorism related activities that promoted violence and destruction, including the killing of not less than 170 security operatives.
Awomolo, SAN, insisted that Kanu had in both video and audio evidence that were tendered before the court, admitted that he is the leader of a proscribed organization and that he made all the broadcasts that allegedly called for violence and destruction.
He argued that contents of the broadcasts could not be waved off as “mere boasting”.
FG’s lawyer added that the issue of the proscription of IPOB should not be delved into by the trial court since it is already pending before the Supreme Court.
After he had listened to both sides, Justice James Omotosho adjourned for ruling.
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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