Abuja— The trial of the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, took an unexpected turn on Monday as he reversed his earlier decision to call witnesses in his defence against the seven-count terrorism-related charge filed against him by the Federal Government.
At the resumed hearing before the Federal High Court in Abuja, Kanu, who had previously opted to represent himself after disengaging his team of lawyers, informed the court that he would no longer proceed with calling witnesses. Instead, he argued that there was no valid charge requiring him to mount any defence.
Speaking directly from the dock, Kanu told the trial judge that, after carefully reviewing the case file, he was convinced the charges against him were defective and legally untenable. “Having gone through the case file, I discovered that there is no valid charge to warrant my defence,” he said.
The IPOB leader maintained that since he was being subjected to an unlawful trial based on an invalid charge, it would serve no purpose to offer explanations or call witnesses to testify in his favour. He therefore withdrew his earlier application requesting the court to summon several high-profile individuals as witnesses.
Earlier, Kanu had filed a motion personally signed by him, listing 23 prominent Nigerians, including serving governors, ministers, former governors, and security chiefs, as potential witnesses he intended to call to support his case. He described them as “vital and compellable witnesses” whose testimonies were crucial to establishing the facts surrounding his prosecution.
In that motion, Kanu had also asked the court to grant him 90 days to present his defence, arguing that the six days initially allotted by the court would not be enough given the number and status of the witnesses he planned to call.
However, during Monday’s proceedings, he completely changed course, abandoning his earlier request and insisting that the entire process was fundamentally flawed.
Kanu has been in the custody of the Department of State Services (DSS) since his re-arrest in 2021, following his earlier flight from Nigeria after being granted bail in 2017. He is facing charges bordering on terrorism, incitement, and other related offences stemming from his activities as the leader of the proscribed IPOB group.
The latest development adds another layer of complexity to a case that has already attracted national and international attention. Legal analysts say Kanu’s decision to challenge the validity of the charges rather than mount a defence could further prolong the proceedings or trigger new constitutional arguments about the legality of his continued detention.
The court is expected to rule on the next steps in the trial at the next adjourned date.
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