The trial of the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, on terrorism charges brought against him by the Federal Government commenced yesterday at the Federal High Court in Abuja with the first witness testifying behind the camera.

Justice James Omotosho granted permission to the government for its witnesses to give evidence behind the camera following a request to that effect. The Judge granted the permission while delivering a ruling in an ex parte application filed by the Federal Government’s lawyer, Adegboyega Awomolo.

While arguing the application, Awomolo pleaded with Justice Omotosho that the identities of the witnesses be shielded from the public and protected for security reasons. He informed the court that the charges against Kanu bother on a serious offence of terrorism; hence, the need to protect the witnesses.

The senior lawyer requested that the name of the witnesses and their other identities be shielded from the public for general reasons of security. Due to no objection from Kanu’s lawyer, Kanu Agabi, Justice Omotosho granted the request.

The judge, however, ordered that Kanu must see the faces of those to testify in the trial. Kanu’s lawyer, however, requested similar cooperation from the Federal Government when the bail application for Kanu was argued.

At the opening of the trial, the first witness of the Federal Government, an operative of the Department of State Services (DSS), was code-named PWAAA by Justice Omotosho in line with the decision of the court not to make the names of witnesses public.

In his evidence, the witness explained how his agency, while acting on intelligence, deployed eight-man operatives to a hotel in Ikeja, Lagos, on October 15, 2015, where Kanu was arrested during a room-to-room search.

He said that the security men opted for a room-to-room search because Kanu’s name was not on the hotel manifest, adding that it was upon his arrest that they discovered he used his native name to secure the hotel accommodation.

The witness disclosed that several items, including IPOB pamphlets, complimentary cards, laptops, IPADS, microphones, microphone stands, flash drives, power adaptors for mixers, various brands of phones, perfumes, ATM cards, wristwatches, among others, were recovered in Kanu’s hotel room and recorded.

The items brought to court by DSS in four suites were displayed in the open court and admitted as exhibits, having not been objected to by Kanu’s defence team.

The witness told the court that the interrogation of Kanu was video recorded, which was played in the open court and admitted as exhibits along with his written statement.

In his written statement read in the open court by the witness, Kanu admitted fighting for the emancipation of his people and that the call for self-determination was his fundamental right and not a crime.

He insisted that his fight for the emancipation of the South-East, South-South and parts of Benue and Kogi states is his fundamental right and not terrorism as alleged by the Federal Government.

Kanu, in the statement made to DSS in Lagos on October 15, 2015, made it clear that freedom fighting is not a crime in any part of the world, including Nigeria, because it is a fundamental right and cited some laws in the statement. He also wrote in the statement that he made it to DSS without the presence of his lawyer, as required by law.