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IPOB leader opts for no-case submission
By Godwin Tsa, Abuja
After a protracted trial laced with dramatic twists, the Federal Government has closed its case against the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, on allegations bordering on terrorism.
The prosecution counsel, Chief Adegboyega Awomolo, SAN, announced this after the fifth prosecution witness (PW-5), identified as EEE for security reasons, was led in evidence and cross-examined by Kanu’s counsel, Onyechi Ikpeazu, SAN.
Earlier, Awomolo told the court that, after calling five witnesses, the prosecution was satisfied that, from the avalanche of evidence tendered, including broadcasts of the IPOB leader’s activities, the government had sufficiently met the requirements to close its case.
“My lord, I therefore close the case,” the senior lawyer said.
After the announcement, the lead defence counsel, Chief Kanu Agabi, told Justice James Omotosho that they would opt for a no-case submission, to be filed in due course.
Earlier, in his testimony, the fifth witness said he was directed to lead a team of security officers to the southern region of the country to obtain records of activities between 2020 and 2021 relating to the #EndSARS protest.
According to the witness, his assignment included obtaining records of public properties destroyed and death certificates of security officers who died during the protests.
The witness was shown three documents: the report of the #EndSARS assessments, the list of officers who died, and their death certificates.
Following his confirmation, his lawyer sought to tender them in evidence.
Ikpeazu informed the court that the defence team would register their objection at the appropriate time, while the documents were admitted and marked as exhibits PWD2, PWD2A, and PWD2B, respectively.
A summary of the documents revealed that 128 policemen, 37 army officers, and 10 DSS agents were killed during the period.
Similarly, 164 police stations and 19 facilities of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) were destroyed.
In his evidence under cross-examination, the witness admitted he was not involved in investigating crimes allegedly committed by the defendant but investigated the fallout of the #EndSARS protest, which the defendant enabled through his broadcasts.
When asked whether the entire #EndSARS protest occurred because Kanu asked people to protest, the witness said he did not know, adding that he knew the defendant asked people to attack security officials and destroy public property.
Below is an excerpt of the cross-examination:
Ikpeazu: So when people destroyed properties in Osun and Lagos during the #EndSARS protest, are you saying they did that because the defendant asked them to? Are you saying categorically that the #EndSARS issue is a Biafran issue?
EEE: My assignment was not to investigate Biafra; my assignment was to investigate the #EndSARS issue, to which the defendant incited the public.
Ikpeazu: Have you heard of Aisha Yesufu, who led protests?
EEE: Yes, I’ve heard about her.
Ikpeazu: Is she Igbo or from Abia State?
EEE: I have never investigated her, so I don’t know.
Ikpeazu: Are you aware that the #EndSARS protest was chiefly against police brutality, especially by the SARS faction of the police?
EEE: There are usually two causes of an insurrection – the open causes and the underlying causes. Police brutality could be the secondary cause of the protest; the real reason for the protests was that some subversive elements incited the public against the government. In this case, the defendant’s broadcasts were one of those underlying causes.
Ikpeazu: What organisation is the defendant allegedly leading?
EEE: IPOB.
Kanu was first arrested in Lagos on Wednesday, October 14, 2015, upon his return from the United Kingdom.
Justice Nyako of the Federal High Court, on Tuesday, April 25, 2017, granted him bail on health grounds after he had spent about 18 months in detention.
Upon perfection of the bail conditions, he was released from Kuje prison on Friday, April 28, 2017.
However, midway through the trial, the IPOB leader escaped from the country after soldiers invaded his home at Afara Ukwu Ibeku in Umuahia, Abia State, an operation that led to the deaths of some of his followers.
Kanu was later re-arrested in Kenya on Saturday, June 19, 2021, and extraordinarily renditioned back to Nigeria by security agents on Sunday, June 27, 2021.
Following this development, the trial court, on Tuesday, June 29, 2021, remanded him in the custody of the DSS, where he has remained to date.
On Friday, April 8, 2022, the court struck out eight of the 15-count charges preferred against him by the Federal Government on the grounds that they lacked substance.
Similarly, the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal, on Thursday, October 13, 2022, ordered Kanu’s immediate release from detention and quashed the charges against him.
The appellate court was satisfied that the Federal Government flagrantly violated all known laws when it forcibly rendered Kanu from Kenya for the continuation of his trial.
It held that such arbitrary use of power by the Nigerian government divested the trial court of jurisdiction to further try the appellant.
Dissatisfied with the decision, the Federal Government appealed to the Supreme Court, persuading the appellate court to suspend the execution of the judgement pending the determination of its appeal.
While deciding the appeal, the Supreme Court, on Friday, December 15, 2023, vacated the judgement of the appellate court and gave the Federal Government the go-ahead to try the IPOB leader on the subsisting seven-count charge.