In a dramatic legal turn, the detained leader of the outlawed Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, has agreed to open his defence, with high-profile names like former Defence Minister Gen. Theophilus Danjuma (rtd), ex-Army Chief Gen. Tukur Buratai (rtd), and current political heavyweights, including FCT Minister Nyesom Wike and Works Minister Dave Umahi, named as key witnesses.
This development came just hours after Omoyele Sowore, African Action Congress (AAC) presidential candidate in the 2023 general elections, led street protests in Abuja demanding Kanu’s release.
Kanu had just filed a preliminary objection on Thursday, challenging the court’s jurisdiction to continue the trial. That same day, a court-appointed panel of medical experts submitted a report affirming he was fit to stand trial.
However, in a fresh motion Kanu filed personally on Tuesday, October 21, Kanu informed the Federal High Court in Abuja, presided over by Justice James Omotosho, that he would begin his defence on October 24, 2025, as previously ordered by the court in 2015.
Kanu disclosed plans to call 23 witnesses, grouped into two categories: “ordinary but material witnesses” and a second group he described as “vital and compellable,” who would be summoned under Section 232 of the Evidence Act, 2011.
Among the high-profile names listed in the latter group are: Gen. Danjuma, Gen. Buratai, Governors Babajide Sanwo-Olu (Lagos) and Hope Uzodinma (Imo), FCT Minister Nyesom Wike, Works Minister Dave Umahi, former Abia State Governor Okezie Ikpeazu, former Justice Minister Abubakar Malami (SAN), ex-NIA DG Ahmed Rufai Abubakar, and SSS boss Yusuf Magaji Bichi.
The motion, personally signed by Kanu, indicating a possible split from his legal team led by Kanu Agabi (SAN), also requested a 90-day window to present his full defence.
He pledged to testify himself and provide a sworn account countering the allegations, including context on the political nature of his actions and statements.
Kanu further assured the court that “no precious time of the honourable court would be delayed,” and promised that justice would not only be done, but be “manifestly seen to have been done.”
Meanwhile, as Kanu’s motion was filed, his special counsel, Aloy Ejimakor, and 12 others were remanded by a magistrate’s court in Abuja following their involvement in protests against Kanu‘s continued detention.
The police charged the group with criminal conspiracy, inciting disturbance, and disobedience of lawful orders, in violations of Sections 152, 114, and 113 of the Penal Code.
The 13 defendants named across two First Information Reports (FIRs) include Ejimakor, Kanu’s brother Emmanuel, and others such as Joshua Emmanuel, Clinton Chimeneze, and Godwill Obioma.
After briefly standing down the case, the magistrate ordered their remand to Kuje Correctional Centre, adjourning the matter until October 24 for arraignment.
