A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, yesterday, convicted and sentenced the detained leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu, to life imprisonment.
Meanwhile, reacting to the judgment, former Senate President, Senator Adolphus Wabara, expressed fury over the life improvement which Justice Omotosho slammed on Kanu.
This came as Igbo women rejected the judgment, saying “it appears as if it had been written before the trial started.”
Trial Justice James Omotosho, in his judgment, found Kanu guilty on all seven-count terrorism charges the federal government slammed against him.
It held that the proof of evidence established that the defendant had, in his separatist agitation for the Biafran Republic, made a series of illegal radio broadcasts that incited violence and killings across the country.
While Kanu was handed a life sentence on counts 1, 4, 5, and 6 of the charge, he received a 20-year jail term on count 3 and a five-year term on count 7, without the option of a fine.
Justice Omotosho said his decision not to give the maximum death penalty prescribed by the law was in deference to a Biblical injunction that required him to show mercy.
He stressed that the convict was not only “cocky and arrogant,” but had repeatedly misbehaved throughout the trial, which had suffered a series of delays since 2015, when the charge was filed.
Ordering that the sentence should run concurrently, the court held that, in view of the defendant’s tendency for violence, he should be kept in protective custody in any correctional centre apart from the one in Kuje, Abuja.
It further ordered, “The defendant deserves protective custody due to his atrocities against the people of South East,” adding that he should be kept in any custodial centre in any part of the country.
The court ordered that the radio transmitter seized from Kanu, which it described as “the object of crime,” should be forfeited to the FG.
According to the court, the prosecution led credible evidence to show that a total of 175 security personnel lost their lives; 134 police stations were destroyed; and nine offices of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, were burnt as a result of Kanu’s broadcasts, adding that he had urged his listeners to attack offices of the British High Commission in Nigeria.
It held that the defendant incited the destruction of government facilities in Lagos and other parts of the country during the EndSARS protest in 2020.
“His action was aimed at causing anarchy, which will in turn lead to the breakdown of law and order.
“His evil intention was to wreak havoc on the people of Nigeria. Were all these actions for self-determination? The answer is No,” Justice Omotosho added.
He held that the IPOB leader turned himself into “a tyrant who could take life anytime he wants,” saying “such a person must not be allowed to stay in a sane society.”
The court noted that the defendant had, in one of his radio broadcasts, taught his followers how to manufacture explosives using fuel and bottles.
“I hold that he is an international terrorist,” Justice Omotosho added, referencing a broadcast he said called for the attack of the then British High Commissioner to Nigeria, whom he alleged visited President Bola Tinubu before security operatives opened fire on the EndSARS protesters.
The court also found the defendant guilty of illegally importing a radio transmitter into the country after he concealed it in a container he had declared as used household items.
The court held that, notwithstanding the fact that FG made a mistake by citing a wrong law in relation to the charge, the offence committed by the defendant was known to the law.
It held that Kanu intended to use the transmitter for his broadcast on Radio Biafra, which was not registered with the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission, NBC.
Describing the right to self-determination as a political right recognised by several legal instruments Nigeria is a signatory to, Justice Omotosho held that Section 2(1) of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, makes it clear that the country is an indivisible sovereign state.
“Agitations for self-determination can only pass through the constitutional amendment through the National Assembly,” the court held, maintaining that Kanu’s agitation used terrorism as a weapon.
The court held that Kanu not only threatened the corporate existence of the country, but also “his own people in the South East,” adding that he once directed that a late commander of the ESN identified as Ikonso must be buried with human heads.
Meanwhile, before the sentence was passed, a member of the House of Representatives for Ikwuano/Umuahia North and South, Obinna Aguocha, pleaded with the court to temper justice with mercy.
“I plead for clemency. I plead for peace and stability, not just in the Southeast, but throughout Nigeria. As the prosecution said, Nigeria has been bleeding for the past few days.
“As done to Kanu, it should also be done to those that have committed far bigger offences,” the lawmaker stated as the court interjected and cautioned him to restrict himself to his plea of allocutus (for leniency).
Earlier, FG had, through its team of lawyers led by Chief Adegboyega Awomolo, SAN, applied for the court to impose the death sentence on Kanu, insisting it was the only way to give justice to victims of his acts of terrorism.
Justice Omotosho had, before his judgment that lasted hours, ordered security agents to escort Kanu out of the courtroom after he insisted that the verdict would not be delivered, contending that the judge did not know the law.
While accusing the judge of bias, Kanu repeatedly shouted that he must be shown where it was written in the law that he was not entitled to file his written address before the judgment was delivered.
His protestation led the court to stand down the matter after it dismissed three motions the IPOB leader had filed, even though the case was already slated for judgment.
The court emphasised that the motions raised issues it had previously addressed.
It dismissed Kanu’s request for the case to be referred to the Court of Appeal for the determination of what he termed as “certain substantial issues arising from the trial.”
The court emphasised that section 306 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015, forbade the stay of proceedings in a criminal matter, even as it also refused the defendant’s request for bail.
Kanu, who had been representing himself after he disengaged his legal team, had, as the judge attempted to commence the reading of the judgment, raised his voice in the dock as he argued that the court had no jurisdiction to decide the case without admitting his written address.
Upon the resumption of sitting, Justice Omotosho invoked the provision of section 266 of the ACJA and delivered the judgment without Kanu in the courtroom.
Additionally, the court dismissed Kanu’s contention that he was charged under a terrorism law that had been repealed in 2013.
The court held that, although the law was amended in 2022, the amendment did not invalidate all cases that were already pending trial.
It held that its jurisdiction was activated in 2015 when the charge was filed and not in 2022 when the amended law took effect.
It equally dismissed the defendant’s insistence that he was deceived into entering his plea to an invalid charge, describing the claim as a ploy to force the trial to start de novo (afresh).
The court’s judgment on Thursday marked the end of a trial that had lasted over 10 years.
It will be recalled that Kanu was arrested on October 14, 2015, upon his return to the country from the United Kingdom.
Following his arraignment, the court, on April 25, 2017, granted him bail on health grounds after he had spent about 18 months in detention.
Upon the fulfilment of the bail conditions, he was released from Kuje Prison on April 28, 2017.
However, midway into the trial, the IPOB leader escaped from the country after soldiers invaded his country home at Afara Ukwu Ibeku in Umuahia, Abia State, an operation that led to the death of some of his followers.
He was later re-arrested in Kenya on June 19, 2021, and extraordinarily renditioned back to the country by security agents on June 27, 2021.
Due to the development, the trial court remanded him to the custody of the DSS on June 29, 2021, where he has remained to date.
On April 8, 2022, the court struck out eight out of the 15-count charge that FG preferred against him on the premise that they lacked substance.
Likewise, on October 13, 2022, the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal ordered Kanu’s immediate release from detention, even as it quashed the charges against him.
Dissatisfied with the decision, FG took the matter before the Supreme Court, even as it persuaded the appellate court to suspend the execution of the judgment, pending the determination of its appeal.
While deciding the appeal, the Supreme Court, on December 15, 2023, vacated the judgment of the appellate court and gave FG the nod to try the IPOB leader on the subsisting seven-count charge.
Justice in Nigeria not for South East-Abaribe
Meanwhile, former Senate Minority Leader, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe(APGA, Abia South) has taken a swipe at sentencing of Kanu to life imprisonment, saying that the outcome of the court matter was foretold and not surprising, adding that justice in Nigeria is not for South East.
In a statement, yesterday, in Abuja by his Media Adviser, Uchenna Awom, Abaribe said: “Is it not an irony that negotiations and peace deals with rampaging terrorists in the North East, North West were gleafully initiated by the local government, states and Federal Government, just like the amnesty to ex-militants in the South South, who were also rewarded with lucrative oil pipeline contracts. That is to say that justice in Nigeria is not for South East.
“So, we are not surprised, our people can only endure and hope for a time justice in Nigeria would become the Sina 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.”
Abaribe added that the Igbo nation was now left with no other option than to place her fate in this matter squarely on the desk of President Bola Tinubu, adding, “We must remain calm and pray. May Nigeria succeed, thrive and advance in justice, equity and fairness.”
Ndigbo imprisoned for life — Ex-Senate President, Wabara
Senator Wabara expressed shock that 24 hours after a Federal High Court sentenced a Boko Haram leader to five years in prison, Kanu, a non-violent freedom fighter, was handed life imprisonment.
The former Senate President insisted that Kanu is not a terrorist but seeks an end to injustice against the Igbo race.
He, however, said the judgment would be appealed, expressing hope Kanu would get a favorable judgment at the court of appeal or the apex court.
Igbo Women Assembly
Reacting also, the Igbo Women Assembly, IWA, rejected the judgment, saying it was not based on any fair logic. IWA National President, Lolo Nneka Chimezie, said it appeared that the “judgment had been written even before the trial started.”
Lolo Chimezie, who was present at the court, expressed solidarity for Kanu, insisting that Kanu is innocent of the charge preferred against him.
“This is unacceptable, and we are kicking against the injustices that are being meted out on Igbo people. It is as if the Nigerian government from 2014 to 2019 created a different law for the Igbos. The law they apply to the Igbos is not the same as the law they apply to other Nigerians, which has played out today. The real terrorists are being rehabilitated and put back into the military, while they cannot even negotiate with IPOB, which is harmless in its demands. And their demands are legitimate.”
Reacting also, former Minister for Education and Health respectively, Prof. Ihechukwu Madubuike, expressed faith that the Court of Appeal would upturn the judgment.
“It’s not unexpected, but let’s wait for the Court of Appeal. He has 90 days to appeal,” he said.
Former Chairman, Council of Traditional Rulers, Umuahia North, HRH Eze Philip Ajomuiwe, expressed bitterness over the judgment, saying it is a confirmation that Nigeria hates the Igbo nation.
The monarch said the judgment was a reflection of the entrenched bitterness against the Igbo, wondering why the court would find Kanu guilty of the same counts of charges that the court of appeal had earlier acquitted him of.
Onoh flays death sentence on Nnamdi Kanu
The former South East spokesman to President Bola Tinubu, Josef Onoh in his reaction, warned against double standard in the FG’s conviction of the leader of Kanu, while it de-radicalises suspected terrorists in the northern parts of Nigeria.
Onoh said that the double standard was a grave and dangerous miscalculation that threatens the fragile unity of Nigeria far more than the actions it claims to punish.
Onoh said that the same Federal Government has invested billions of naira in de-radicalisation and rehabilitation programmes for repentant Boko Haram terrorists, many of whom have confessed to slaughtering thousands of Nigerians, razing entire communities, and displacing millions.
“Yet for Nnamdi Kanu, whose agitation, however provocative, has been largely non-violent in its core demand for self-determination, the prosecution demands death.
B-Haram terrorists not treated same way — Igbo community in Abuja
The Igbo Community Association, Abuja, has condemned the conviction of Kanu, stressing that he was not allowed to defend himself before the judgment.
President General of the Igbo community Association, Engr. Ikenna Ellis-Ezenekwe, said: “The judiciary may have decided on its own to unravel the painstaking peace achieved in the South East by its singular act of declaring Kanu guilty without affording him the opportunity to defend himself.
“The Igbo community in Abuja is saddened and disappointed by this ruling.
“We call on the spirit of patriotism and on patriotic Nigerians to rise and speak up against the continued detention of Kanu.
We’re not surprised — Imo residents
In Imo State, people were seen at several points in Owerri municipality, discussing the issue in low tones, only a few of them opted to speak on the matter.
Chief Simeon Odike said he was not surprised by the judgment. His words: “I am not surprised by the judgment. I didn’t expect anything less.
“Have we not lost count of the judgments in favour of Kanu? Were any of the judgments obeyed? Has anybody paid him the monetary award for damages, ordered by the competent courts of the land?
Responding also, Mr. Luke Okechukwu, said: “I am saddened by the judgment of the Federal High Court. The mood of the people amply exhibits the inner feelings of the populace.
“There could have been a subtle, pleasurable, political solution to this case, instead of relying fully on our judicial system. In her contribution, Mrs. Adaora Okoro, recalled that this trial started in 2015, and in 2017, his ancestral home was attacked by soldiers.
Her words: “The life imprisonment pronounced by this judge did not shock anybody who has been following the case to date.
Kanu: Heavy security around Abia govt house
There is tight security around the Abia State Government House Umuahia, yesterday as public rejection trailed life improvement slammed on the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, by Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court Abuja.
The beef-up may not be unconnected with Kanu’s judgment whose country home is few meters away from the Abia seat of power.
Heavily-armed police personnel were sighted at the main entrance gate to the Government House as well as the exit gate.
There presence which attracted the attention of passers-by, might be one of the proactive security measures apparently put in place in the eventuality of any unruly reaction from residents.
Meanwhile, the entire City was generally calm but moody as residents discussed the judgment with hushed tones.
Some persons were overheard expressing bitterness over the verdict while some publicly rejected it, insisting that Kanu is innocent.
Vanguard checks also indicate that other parts of the State are generally calm and peaceful.
VANGUARD.
