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The detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu, has asked the Federal Government to release him, insisting that he has no case to answer.
This was as he failed to open his defence to the seven-count terrorism charge the Federal Government preferred against him on Tuesday.
Kanu, who is conducting his case by himself, after he disengaged his team of lawyers, maintained that in the absence of a valid charge pending before the court, there was no legal basis for him to either open his defence or to file and exchange a final written address with the Federal Government..
He urged the judge to take judicial notice of the motion he filed along with a supporting affidavit, which challenged the jurisdiction of the court to continue to try him over an offence he said is unknown to any extant law.
Kanu asked the court to order his immediate release from the custody of the Department of State Services, DSS, where he has been detained since 2021.
“You cannot ask me to begin my defence when you have not stated the law under which I am being charged.
“The records of this court show there is no law backing these charges. I request to be released. My Lord, please take judicial notice of all the records before this court,” he added.
The pro-Biafra leader, while citing section 36(12) of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, argued that there was no law to back the charge against him.
He alleged that the court was violating a Supreme Court judgment, which according to him condemned his extraordinary rendition from Kenya by the Federal Government.
When he was reminded that the apex court remitted his case for a fresh trial, Kanu stood his ground that trying him over a non-existent crime amounted to a denial of his constitutional rights.
“In Nigeria today, the Constitution is the Supreme law; there is no provision for terrorism offence in the Constitution. There is no valid charge against me. I will not go back to any detention today.
“Terrorism Prevention and Prohibition Act has been repealed. I cannot put in defense under a repealed law. I won’t do that.
“Tell any lawyer to show me the valid charge. I appeal to you to please take judicial notice of the repeal of the terrorism charges. I am not ready to go back to detention today unless I am shown the valid charge against me.
“I cannot be tried under a law that has been repealed. A law that is not written in our Constitution. Prosecuting me under a repealed law is a violation of my fundamental right,” he added.
In his response, the prosecution counsel, Chief Adegboyega Awomolo, SAN, queried the competence of the documents Kanu served on him, insisting they lacked probative value and should be discounted by the court.
The Federal Government’s lawyer prayed the court not to further indulge the defendant, who he said was merely wasting valuable judicial time.
He urged the court to deem the documents that Kanu recently filed as his final written address and to order parties to adopt the processes to enable judgment to be delivered in the matter.
