The Federal High Court of Nigeria, sitting at the country’s capital (Abuja), has dismissed a no–case submission submitted by the proscribed leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) Nnamdi Kanu, following a successful treason allegation by the government’s prosecution.
The ruling which was delivered on Friday, 26th September, by Justice James Omotosho, compelled the defense party to present their case, after ruling that the government’s prosecution has made a prima facie case. The seven–count charges which were alleged the defendant to have committed included treasonable felony, terrorism, and illegal possession of firearms.
During the court session, the judge affirmed that the prosecution successfully presented sufficient evidence that linked the defendant to the offence, and which could be used to secure the conviction of Mr Kanu if left undisproved.
“The defendant has a case to answer on counts one, two, three, four, five, eight, and fifteen of the amended charge,” said Justice Omotosho. “The no-case submission is hereby overruled. The defendant is now ordered to open his defense.”
Recall that the court had previously ruled against eight of the initial fifteen counts charged against Mr Kanu, as a result of the prosecution’s failure to support them with adequate evidence.
The long–and–suffocating ongoing trial emerged from Mr Kanu’s alleged terrorism and related offences that spanned between 2018 and 2021 where the defendant has led violence activities in Southeast Nigeria, while demanding secession of some part of the region.
Mr Kanu who was arrested in Kenya, and extradited into Nigeria in 2021, has earlier been acquitted when the Nigeria Court of Appeal ruled that such rendition is illegal. However, the ruling was reversed by the Supreme Court of Nigeria, as the case was sent back to the Federal High Court for proper trial on the merits of the remaining charges.
Therefore, the counsel for the prosecution has lauded the judgment as a milestone in the judicial process.
Reactions outside the courthouse were swift and sharply divided. Counsel for the Federal Government, Mr. Shuaibu Labaran, hailed the judgment as a triumph for the judicial process. “The court has affirmed today that no one is above the law. We have always maintained that we have a credible case against the defendant, and we are fully prepared to see this trial through to a just conclusion.”
Meanwhile, the lead counsel to the defense party, Chief Mike Ozekhome, Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), expressed dissatisfaction over the ruling, while vowing to fight till the end in a bid to secure the acquittal of their client.
“We are shocked by this ruling. We believed we had presented compelling arguments that the prosecution failed to link our client directly to the alleged offenses.”
“However, we have been instructed to open our defense, and we shall do so vigorously. This is not the end; it is merely the beginning of the next phase. We are confident that when we present our case, the world will see the innocence of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.”
What Leads to Kanu’s Prosecution
From the first-generational Biafra movement led by the former military head Chukwuemeka Odumegu Ojukwu when the Eastern Nigeria seceded in 1967, to the contemporary Independent People of Biafra (IPOB) leader Nnamdi Kanu, and now to the Autopilot faction leader Simon Ekpa, the agitation for Biafra Nation has become an endless struggle—deploying a more brutal method—with millions of ruins being trapped in the process.
The 1967 armed conflict claimed at least 500,000 and three million lives. Majority of the deaths owe to starvation caused by blockade imposed by the then federal government of Nigeria.
Between 2018 and 2021, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, popularly known as Nnamdi Kanu has been central in the violence activities experienced in the region, as he boldly led the armed secessionist organization before his arrest within the timeframe.
A total of 776 people were killed and over N7.6 trillion lost since 2021 in Nigeria’s South-east during sit-at-home enforced by the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), a report has said.
IPOB is a group leading agitation for an independent state of Biafra which it wants carved out from the South-east and some parts of the South-south Nigeria.