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Nnamdi Kanu’s Terrorism Trial Ends After 10 Years, Bags Life Imprisonment Verdict
Nnamdi Kanu’s Terrorism Trial Ends After 10 Years, Bags Life Imprisonment Verdict
•To be held in protective custody
•Abaribe: His life sentence a preconceived plot against the S’east
•Army dismisses fake ‘sit-at-home’ order, assures South-east of full security
Alex Enumah, Sunday Aborisade and Linus Aleke in Abuja
The terrorism trial of leader of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, at the Federal High Court, Abuja, came to an end yesterday after 10 years, with the court finally convicting him on all seven count amended charges.
The court subsequently sentenced him to life imprisonment for committing acts of terrorism against Nigeria and the Nigerian people.
The pro-Biafran was first arrested in Lagos in 2015 and subsequently arraigned before a Magistrate Court in Abuja, before his re-arraignment at the Federal High Court, Abuja.
The case went back and forth and was tried by four different judges of the Federal High Court, before its conclusion yesterday by Justice James Omotosho.
The trial was also stalled for about four years, when Kanu jumped bail and fled the country, following invasion of his family house in Abia State, by military personnel in 2017. He was rearrested in Kenya in 2021 and brought back to continue his trial.
In 2022, then trial judge, Justice Binta Nyako, had dismissed eight out of the 15 counts and ordered him to open his defence in the remaining seven count
The case also went all the way to the Supreme Court in 2023 before it was returned to the trial court.
Delivering judgement in the suit, yesterday, Omotosho found the defendant guilty on all the seven counts.
The judge held that the prosecution was able to established the ingredients of the charge against the IPOB leader.
The federal government had called five witnesses and tendered bundles of documentary and video evidences to prove that Kanu committed acts of terrorism through his broadcast on social media platforms, which led to the deaths of many Nigerians in the South-east.
The videos included several broadcast of the Biafra nation agitator issuing various threats to Nigerians, including the enforcement of sit-at-home orders to residents of the South-east region.
Other video evidence included occasions where the IPOB leader described Nigeria as a zoo, issued threats against security personnel as well as threatened the destruction of public infrastructure, including banks, schools and police stations.
However, Kanu failed to open his defence in the seven count charge against him, resulting in the court foreclosing him and adjourning to November 20, for judgement.
Delivering judgement, Omotosho stated that facts not controverted were deemed admitted, and subsequently found him guilty in count one, which bordered on committing Acts of Terrorism against the Federal Republic of Nigeria, by making broadcast with intention to intimidate the population.
The judge cited and quoted Kanu in some of his broadcast as saying Somalia would be a small thing compared to what would happen to Nigeria, if they failed to give them Biafra.
The court also cited another instance where Kanu had threatened that, “in the next two weeks, the slaughter will begin to happen… We are ready to die than be slaves… The army of Nigeria will die in Biafra land,” among others.
According to Omotosho, all the above scenario which were not controverted by the defendant amounted to acts of terrorism against Nigeria and punishable under the Terrorism Prevention Act.
Omotosho also found Kanu guilty on count two, which bordered on making broadcast with intention to threaten members of the public with sit-at-home, especially in the five South-east states.
According to the judge, prosecution witnesses testified that due to Kanu’s threat of violence many banks, markets and churches were grounded.
He quoted the defendant as issuing a threat in his broadcast of May 30, 2021, wherein Kanu said, “tomorrow…there is complete lockdown… nobody should be seen outside tomorrow…if you want to be alive don’t come out tomorrow…we will burn you inside that shop.”
The judge, in holding that the statement Kanu made amounted to intimidation of people of the South-east, considering that they were predominantly Christians, who went to church and merchants who opened shops daily.
Besides, Omotosho pointed out that Kanu not being the president of Nigeria or a person of authority lacked the power to order a sit-at-home in the South-east or any part of Nigeria.
The judge concluded that the sit-at-home orders issued by Kanu were “unconstitutional” and “amounts to nothing more than a terrorist act”.
Similarly, the court found the defendant not only guilty of belonging to a proscribed group (IPOB), but being the leader of the group.
The court further convicted Kanu on counts four, five and six, which bordered on making a broadcast encouraging members of the public to kill Nigeria security officers, including the personnel of the Nigeria Police.
According to the judge, the prosecution proved that Kanu by his many broadcasts incited his followers to violence, which resulted in the killing of security personnel, including Mr Ahmed Gulak, a former aide to former President Goodluck Jonathan, and the destruction of several properties, including police stations across the country.
Similarly, the court found Kanu guilty on count seven, which bordered on illegal importation of a radio transmitter into the country.
Before handing down the sentence, the judge stated that he would not allow the unruly behaviour of the defendant to deny him the opportunity to plead for leniency.
The judge subsequently called one of his consultants, Alloy Ejimakor, to plead allocutus on behalf of the IPOB leader, but Ejimakor, who observed that he was not a counsel on record and not being properly dressed as a minister in the temple of justice could not plead allocutus.
He, thereafter, yielded the floor to the lawmaker from Kanu’s constituency.
Aguocha, who informed the court that Kanu was his schoolmate back then urged the court to be lenient to the convict, who according to him should be between 56 and 57 years.
Earlier, prosecution counsel, Chief Adegboyega Awomolo, SAN, prayed the court to hand down the maximum punishment of death penalty, so as to serve as deterrent to others, pointing out that terrorism related offences have been on the increase in the country of recent.
Besides, the senior lawyer submitted that the maximum punishment would serve justice to all the victims of his acts of terrorism.
He predicated the demand on the grounds that more than 75 security personnel lost their lives due to the terrorism activities of Kanu, his groups and followers, while many other innocent Nigerians were also killed and public property destroyed.
Delivering sentence, the court observed that although Kanu deserved death going by the gravity of the offence and his lack of remorse, the court was however mindful to show mercy and subsequently sentenced him to life imprisonment.
The judge also ordered that the IPOB leader be held in protective custody in any part of the country, to prevent attack on him due to the harm he caused a lot of people, especially citizens of the South-east region of the country.
The court in making the order remarked that the Kuje Correctional Centre may not be appropriate due to jail break.
Omotosho, in addition, ordered the Correctional Centre should not allow Kanu access to computer devices, on the grounds that he had used the devices to call for all the atrocities.
“He should not be allowed to near any of this device,” Omotosho held, adding that he could have limited access but must be monitored by the office of the National Security Adviser (NSA).
While in counts 1,2,4,5 and 6, Kanu was sentenced to life imprisonment, he was on count three sentenced to 20 years and five years on count five.
The court in addition ordered the forfeiture of the radio transmitter to the federal government.
Abaribe: Kanu’s Life Sentence a Preconceived Plot Against the South-East
Former Senate Minority Leader, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, condemned the conviction and life imprisonment handed Nnamdi Kanu, describing the judgement as the culmination of a long-running plot against the South-east.
Abaribe, representing Abia South Senatorial District in the 10th Senate, in a statement in Abuja by his Media Adviser, Uchenna Awom, said the outcome did not come as a surprise to “the Igbo nation and other right-thinking Nigerians”.
He insisted that the process leading to the conviction had been predetermined.
Part of the statement read, “We are not surprised. The life jail handed down to Kanu was a preconceived plot that has only reached its expected end. For many of us, the outcome was foretold.”
Abaribe said the warning signs became clear the moment the federal government refused persistent appeals to extend to Kanu the same amnesty and reconciliation gestures previously granted to other armed groups in different parts of the country.
“At the time the federal government refused to factor in pleadings to extend amnesty to Nnamdi Kanu, as was done for others, we knew that today’s outcome was imminent,” the senator stated.
Abaribe drew comparisons with the handling of insurgents and militants in other regions, describing the disparity as a glaring injustice.
He stated, “Is it not an irony that negotiations and peace deals with rampaging terrorists in the North-east and North-west were gleefully initiated by local governments, states and the federal government?
“Just like the amnesty granted to ex-militants in the South-south, many of whom were later rewarded with lucrative oil pipeline contracts. This is to say that justice in Nigeria is not for the South-east.”
He lamented that despite repeated interventions, appeals, and advocacy for clemency in the interest of national unity, justice, and inclusiveness, all entreaties were ignored.
Abaribe said, “So we are not surprised. Our people can only endure and hope for a time when justice in Nigeria would become the sine qua non.
“We have done our best; we have variously made the case for the authorities to be circumspect and at least accede to pardon for the sake of unity and inclusiveness.”
The senator said the latest development had now placed a heavy responsibility on President Bola Tinubu, whom he urged to act decisively in the interest of equity and national cohesion.
“The Igbo nation is now left with no other option than to place her fate squarely on the desk of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu,” he said.
Abaribe appealed for calm among Nigerians, especially in the South-east, urging citizens not to resort to violence in expressing their frustration over the ruling.
“We ask the Igbo nation and other lovers of Nigeria to remain calm, pray, and not take the law into their hands,” he said.
Nigerian Army Dismisses Fake ‘Sit-At-Home’ Order, Assures S’east Full Security
The 82 Division of the Nigerian Army dismissed a threat message circulating online announcing a fake “sit-at-home” order for yesterday, ahead of the verdict, describing it as the work of criminal elements seeking to create panic and destabilise the South-east.
According to the army, the message was crafted to instil fear, disrupt economic activities and undermine government authority, despite recent gains recorded by security forces in ending unlawful sit-at-home directives imposed by proscribed groups.
In a statemen by Acting Deputy Director of Army Public Relations, 82 Division, Lieutenant Colonel Olabisi Ayeni, the military assured residents that the threat held no weight and would not be allowed to disrupt peace or restrict the freedom of law-abiding citizens.
It said, “We wish to unequivocally assure the good people of the South-East that such threats are baseless and will not stand, as no illegal order will be permitted to interfere with the peace and freedom of law-abiding citizens.”
Ayeni said the 82 Division, working in collaboration with the police and other security agencies, had put in place a comprehensive security plan to guarantee the safety of all residents.
He said security forces had been deployed to protect lives, property and critical infrastructure, while preventing any attempt at sabotage or violence.
The army further emphasised that freedom of movement remained fully protected and residents were free to carry out their lawful activities without fear.
“There will be peaceful coexistence, and economic activities will continue to thrive across the region,” the statement said.
The public was urged to disregard fear-inducing messages circulated by groups intent on causing panic for selfish reasons.
Citizens were also encouraged to continue their daily business without hesitation, remain calm and report any suspicious activity to relevant authorities.
The army issued a warning to criminal elements attempting to enforce the purported order, stressing that anyone found taking the law into their own hands will face decisive action in accordance with the law.
•To be held in protective custody •Abaribe: His life sentence a preconceived plot against the S’east •Army dismisses fake ‘sit-at-home’ order, assures South-east of full security Alex Enumah, Sunday Aborisade
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