• Court bars in-law for airing videos of proceedings

A Federal High Court, Abuja, yesterday, heard how the leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, admitted to operating an illegal radio station and inciting members of the public to attack police officers.

An official of the State Security Services (SSS) said this while testifying as the second Prosecution Witness (PW2) in Kanu’s ongoing terrorism trial before Justice James Omotosho.

The witness, identified with the acronym BBB, testified behind a screen provided by the court. He said Kanu confirmed his activities while giving his statement.

Led in evidence by prosecuting lawyer, Adegboyega Awomolo, BBB said besides being the leader of the proscribed IPOB, Kanu is the founder of the Eastern Security Network (ESN), the armed wing of IPOB.

The witness said Kanu also operated an illegal radio station which broadcasts on frequencies 102.1 FM and 88.0 FM. He said the radio was illegal because it was not licensed by the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC).

BBB said he was, in July 2021, assigned the duty of taking the statement of Kanu, following a letter from the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) requesting that the IPOB leader be investigated in respect of his alleged terrorist activities.

The witness said he carried out the assignment in the company of four other colleagues. He said he handed Kanu the letter from the AGF, which the defendant read and also gave his lawyers to read, following which he requested that Kanu respond to issues raised in the letter.

He noted that after reading the letter, Kanu volunteered to make a statement in the presence of two of his lawyers, including Alloy Ejimakor.

The witness said he played some of the broadcast made by the defendant on his radio station (Radio Biafra), including where he called for the attack of police officers and other inciting comments.

BBB said Kanu admitted that the broadcast, which he played to his hearing, was his (Kanu’s) own. On what Kanu was agitating about, the witness said Kanu wanted the secession of the five South-East states, part of Kogi and part of Benue states, from the rest of Nigeria.

The witness said the defendant’s statement-taking session was recorded on video.
At that point, Awomolo showed the witness a copy of a disc, which BBB identified as containing the recording of his interaction with Kanu.

Awomolo then applied to tender the letter from the AGF, the disc and a certificate of compliance.

However, the lawyer to the defence, Kanu Agabi, objected to the prosecution’s application to tender the items, arguing that the defence was not served with the AGF letter and the video recording.

Agabi said it was part of the defendant’s right to be given copies of all documents and materials that the prosecution planned to rely on in prosecuting the case.

Awomolo said he was ready to furnish the defendant with all the necessary documents and materials that the prosecution wished to rely on.

Ruling, Justice Omotosho held that the defence was entitled to all the documents and materials the prosecution planned to rely on. He proceeded to order the prosecution to, in line with the provision of Section 36 of the Constitution, serve on the defendant all facilities, including documents that it intends to rely on to prosecute the case.

Upon an application by Awomolo, Justice Omotosho adjourned till May 7 to enable the prosecution to serve the defence all the necessary documents and for the PW 2 to continue his testimony.

Shortly before PW1 was invited, Justice Omotosho issued an order barring a sister-in-law to the defendant, Mrs Favour Kanu, from further attendance at proceedings. The judge said the decision was informed by the conduct of the lady, who admitted engaging in the live broadcast of the court’s proceedings on her social media platform.