Gives NMA President Eight Days To Ascertain IPOB Leader’s Health Status
A Federal High Court in Abuja has rejected the no-case submission made by the detained self-acclaimed leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, in his ongoing alleged terrorism trial.
 
Justice James Omotosho, in a ruling on Friday, held that the prosecution has established a prima facie case against Kanu to warrant that he be ordered to enter his defence.
 
The judge, who overruled Kanu’s no-case submission, found that the evidence led by the prosecution and the exhibits it tendered have raised serious allegations of Kanu’s involvement in terrorism activities to warrant that he be given the opportunity to defend himself.
 
Justice Omotosho said the evidence and exhibits and the need for him to demonstrate and lead evidence on his allegations of an extraordinary rendition, requires that the defendant be given the opportunity and afforded his fundamental rights to fair hearing to be allowed to enter his defence.
 
Justice Omotosho held that it is in the best interest of Kanu to be given the opportunity to clear some issues raised against him in the terrorism charges. 
 
Although the judge held that he had not evaluated the credibility of the witnesses who testified against Kanu and the avalanche of exhibits tendered during trial to determine their probate value, he said he was inclined to order the defendant to clear some grey issues.  
 
Kanu had made a no case submission shortly after the Federal Government concluded presentation of its case against him after calling five witnesses and rendering some exhibits. 
 
Kanu, through his lead lawyer, Chief Kanu Agabi (SAN), had on July 18 applied to the judge to throw away the terrorism charges against him on the ground that he was not properly and legally linked with any terrorism offences and asked the court to discharge and acquit him.
 
Among other arguments, Agabi said throughout the proceedings, no single witness was called to tell the court how he was incited by Kanu to resort to violence and that the five witnesses called during the trial, who are DSS operatives, admitted that their roles were limited to obtaining statements from Kanu.
 
Agabi argued that no investigation whatsoever was carried out on Kanu’s statements and no report of any investigation on terrorism allegations was made available to the court.
 
The senior lawyer drew the attention of the court to the fact that the charges against Kanu were amended eight times, yet no one came to testify that he was instigated to violence.
 
Insisting that Kanu was only asking people to defend themselves from wanton killings, Agabi argued that the threat to bring the world down by Kanu was mere boasting and should not be used against him to justify terrorism offences.

He said asking Nigerians to defend themselves is a constitutional right and had been re-echoed by other Nigerians, including General T. Y. Danjuma (retd).
 
Agabi also faulted the solitary confinement of Kanu over the last 10 years in violation of international law that states solitary confinement must not last more than 15 days.
 
Insisting that the ingredients of terrorism charges were not established throughout the trial, Agabi pleaded with the judge to hold that no prima facie case was made against Kanu to warrant ordering him to enter defence on the charges.
 
On its part, the Federal Government told the court that the threat by the Biafra nation agitator to break up the country and establish a Republic of Biafra was not a mere empty threat but a deliberate one.
 
The government said the detained IPOB leader made a broadcast on Biafra Radio Station where he openly and publicly declared his intention to break up Nigeria.
 
The Federal Government’s lawyer, Chief Adegboyega Awomolo (SAN), said the broadcast by Kanu caused Nigerians to live in great fear and prayed Justice Omotosho to reject the claims of Kanu that he had no case to answer in the seven-count terrorism charge brought against him by the Federal Government.
 
Awomolo argued that boasting to break up Nigeria is a fundamental security issue for the nation and, as such, should not be considered an empty threat as claimed by Kanu.
 
Meanwhile, Justice Omotosho has given the President of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) eight days within which to ascertain the IPOB leader’s health status and determine his fitness to stand for trial. 
 
The court ordered the NMA president to constitute a team of medical experts to ascertain Kanu’s health status and submit a report based on which it would decide whether to transfer Kanu to the National Hospital for treatment or not. 
 
While issuing the order on Friday,  Justice Omotosho  said the committee should, among others, visit the hospital of the Department of the State Service (DSS) to confirm whether it has capacity to meet the health needs of the IPOB leader or not. 
 
The judge said the NMA committee should be at liberty to make use of any hospital in the country to carry out its investigations, adding that the committee should comprise between eight to 10 members of the NMA and shall have cardiologist and neurologist. 
 
Besides, the judge ordered that the Chief Medical Director of the National Hospital must also be a member of the committee.  
 
He subsequently fixed October 8 for the court to receive the NMA report, which will thereafter be used to determine a date for continuation of trial. 
 
The decision of the judge followed the divergent views held by the DSS and Kanu’s private consultants, both of who made different recommendations on his health status. 
 
The IPOB leader has been in detention since he was brought back to Nigeria from Kenya in June 2021.