Kanu Opens Defence, Lists Wike, SanwoOlu, Umahi, Buratai, Others As Witnesses
Detained leader of the outlawed Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, has agreed to enter his defence.
The separatist leader filed a motion of preliminary objection last Thursday, challenging the jurisdiction of the court to continue with his trial.
Kanu filed the objection the same day a team of medical experts enpanelled by the court to determine his health status, turned in a report that he was medically fit to stand trial.
However, in a fresh motion he personally filed on Tuesday, October 21, the IPOB leader assured the court that he was prepared to begin his defence “pursuant to the order of this honourable court made on the 16th day of October 2015, directing the defendant to commence his defence on the 24th day of October 2025.”
Kanu informed the court, presided over by Justice James Omotosho, of his plan to call a total of 23 witnesses divided into two categories.
The first category, he said, would be those he called “ordinary but material witnesses”.
He further informed the court that his second category of witnesses would be “vital and compellable” and shall be “summoned under Section 232 of the Evidence Act, 2011.”
Kanu, in the notice he personally signed, told the court that, in view of the number of witnesses he intends to call, the court should consider granting a 90-day timeframe to enable him to conclude his defence.
He also said he would “testify on his own behalf, providing a sworn account of the facts, denying the allegations, and explaining the political context of his statements and actions.”
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Among those Kanu listed as “compellable witnesses” are a former Minister of Defence, Gen. Theophilus Danjuma (rtd), a former Chief of Army Staff, Gen Tukur Buratai (rtd), as well as Babajide Sanwo-Olu and Hope Uzodinma, Governors of Lagos and Imo States respectively.
He further listed the current Minister of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), Nyesom Nwike, his Works counterpart, Dave Umahi, and the immediate past governor of Abia State, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu.
He also listed the immediate past Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN, the immediate past Director General of the National Intelligence Agency, NIA, Ahmed Rufai Abubakar, his then-collegue at the State Security Service, SSS, Yusuf Magaji Bichi, and several witnesses whose identities he didn’t reveal.
Kanu, in the notice, promised to “provide the sworn statements of all voluntary witnesses to this honourable court, and to notify the prosecution within a reasonable time.”
He assured that “no precious time of the honourable court would be delayed,” stressing, “and it would interest the honourable court and the general public that justice is not only done but manifestly seen to have been done.”
Olamilekan Adigun is a graduate of Mass Communication with years of experience in journalism embedded in uncovering human interest stories. He also prioritises accuracy and factual reportage of issues.
