Nnamdi Kanu Set to Defend Terrorism Allegations After Meeting with Legal Team

•To call Wike, Danjuma, Buratai, others as witnesses  

•Family, Wabara, others demand release of protesters, exonerate Sowore of complicity 

•Say NMA never visited Kanu for medical evaluation

Alex Enumah, Linus Aleke in Abuja and Emmanuel Ugwu-Nwogo in Umuahia

The detained leader of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, is set to open his defense in his terrorism trial taking place at a Federal High Court in Abuja.

Trial judge James Omotosho had last week fixed October 23 for the pro-Biafran to open his defence in the seven-count amended charge brought against him by the federal government.

The judge fixed the date for opening of defence after a report from the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) stated that Kanu was in a good state of health to continue his trial.

The court had also granted the request of the defendant to have a private consultation with his legal team, led by former Attorney General of the Federation, Kanu Agabi, SAN.

According to the court’s order, Kanu should meet with his counsel inside the courtroom between the hours of 9am and 12noon on October 22, a day before the resumption of trial.

In line with the order of the court, the meeting held yesterday in Court 7, located on the second floor of the Federal High Court headquarters complex in Abuja, the same courtroom where proceedings in his ongoing terrorism trial were being conducted.

As Kanu prepares to commence his defence today, he has resolved to call some eminent Nigerians, like former Minister of Defence, Rtd General Theophilus Danjuma, as a witness.

Danjuma was listed in the categories of those he wanted the court to summon to testify in the case.

Others on the “compellable witnesses” list were immediate past Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN; Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike; former Chief of Army Staff, General Tukur Buratai (Rtd); Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State; and Governor Hope Uzodinma of Imo State.

Others were Minister of Works, Dave Umahi; immediate past Governor of Abia State, Okezie Ikpeazu; immediate past Director-General (DG) of National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Ahmed Rufai Abubakar; former DG of the State Security Service, Yusuf Bichi; and many others whose identities he did not reveal.

The list of witnesses was contained in a fresh motion he personally signed and filed at the Federal High Court in Abuja.

The motion, marked: FHC/ABJ/CR/383/2015, was dated October 20, and filed October 21.

The motion was titled, “Notice of Number and Names of Witnesses to be Called by the Defendant and Request for Witness Summons/Subpoena and the Variation of the Time Within Which to Defend the Counts/Charges against the Defendant.”

He said the motion was brought “pursuant to the order of this honourable court made on October 16, 2015, directing the defendant to commence his defence on October 24, 2025.”

In addition, Kanu told the court that he planned to call a total of 23 witnesses divided into two categories.

The first category, he said, would be those he called “ordinary but material witnesses”, while the second category of witnesses was “vital and compellable” and shall be “summoned under Section 232 of the Evidence Act, 2011”.

The defendant subsequently urged the court to consider granting him a 90-day timeframe to enable him conclude his defence, because of the number of witnesses he intended to call.

He told the court that he would “testify on his own behalf, providing a sworn account of the facts, denying the allegations, and explaining the political context of his statements and actions”.

He promised to “provide the sworn statements of all voluntary witnesses to this honourable court, and to notify the prosecution within a reasonable time”.

Meanwhile, the family of Nnamdi Kanu condemned the arrest of peaceful protesters for participating in the #FreeNnamdiKanuNow in Abuja on Monday, calling for their immediate release.

Equally, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Adolphus Wabara, condemned the police clampdown and demanded the release of detainees.

The younger brother of Kanu, Emmanuel Kanu; his lawyer, Aloy Ejimakor; and 10 other protesters were arrested and arraigned by the police in Abuja. A magistrate court ordered their remand in Kuje prison.

Speaking on the developments, the immediate younger brother of Kanu, Kanunta Kanu, insisted that the police were in no way justified in arresting protesters.

He said his brother, Emmanuel, and Ejimakor and others were arrested at Transcorp Hotel axis well within the areas permitted for the protests.

The family spokesman argued that the police knew they were on the wrong side of the law and that was the reason they didn’t produce any document granting them permission to carry out the arrests.

He said the arrests were purposely carried out “to further traumatise” Kanu and scuttle his court appearance scheduled for today, moreso as one of his key legal representative was also arrested.

“Government knows they have no case against him (Kanu) that’s why they are employing all manner of tactics to weaken him,” the family said.

The Kanu family also defended politician and social activist, Omoleye Sowore, who had been receiving a backlash in the social media for alleged complicity in the arrest of Kanu’s brother, by organising the protest.

The younger Kanu said, “Those pointing fingers at Sowere should stop it. Saying that he (Sowore) sold out Barrister Aloy Ejimakor and Prince Emmanuel Kanu is incorrect. That is a very wrong narrative.”

Wabara, in his own reaction, said the police overreacted by firing teargas and even live bullets at the peaceful protesters.

He also condemned the alleged manhandling of a journalist covering the protest, whose camera was reportedly broken by some overzealous security operatives.

“It is the fundamental right of citizens to hold peaceful protest,” Wabara said, adding that in protest situations, the police were required to provide protection for protesters, and not to clamp down on them.

The former senate president said the intimidation and arrest of peaceful protesters constituted “a serious dent on Nigeria’s global image”. He said Tinubu had a duty to rein in security agencies.