•Incarcerated IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu
The federal government has told the Federal High Court in Abuja that the threat by the Biafra nation agitator, Nnamdi Kanu, to break up the country and establish a Republic of Biafra was not a mere empty threat but a deliberate one.
The government said that the detained leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) made a broadcast on the Biafra Radio station where he openly and publicly declared his intention to break up Nigeria, reports The Guardian.
Responding to a No Case application made by Kanu today, the federal government lawyer, Chief Adegboyega Awomolo SAN, said that the broadcast by Kanu caused Nigerians to live in great fear.
The senior lawyer told Justice James Omotosho to reject the claims of Kanu that he had no case to answer in the seven-count terrorism charges brought against him by the federal government.
Awomolo argued that boasting to break up Nigeria is a fundamental security issue to the nation and as such, should not be considered as an empty threat as claimed by Kanu.
The government lawyer informed the court that Kanu, in the broadcast, directed his followers to go after police men to kill them along with their families, adding that over 170 security agents were killed shortly after the broadcast.
“The defendant made a broadcast. He proudly declared himself as the IPOB leader even when he knew that IPOB had been proscribed. He made a broadcast that the world would come to a standstill.
“The law of Nigeria prohibits words capable of making Nigerians live in perpetual fears, threatening to bring Nigeria down. The aim is to create Biafra and not a mere boasting and there are consequences for such boasting,” he said.
Awomolo pleaded with the Judge to reject the no case argument of Kanu and order him to enter his defense in the charges against him, adding that the no case application was a misplaced and misconceived one.
However, Kanu, through his lead counsel, Chief Kanu Agabi SAN, had faulted the prosecution of his client in the charges and asked the court to discharge and acquit him.
Among others, Agabi SAN said that throughout the proceedings, no single witness was called to tell the court how he was incited by Kanu to take to violence.
He also informed the court that the five witnesses called during trial who are operatives of the Department of the State Service (DSS) admitted that their roles were limited to obtaining statements from Kanu.
Agabi argued that no investigation whatsoever was carried out on Kanu’s statements, and no report of any investigation on terrorism allegations was made available to the court.
The senior lawyer drew the attention of the court to the fact that the charges against Kanu were amended 8 times, yet no one came to testify that he was instigated to violence.
Insisting that Kanu was only asking people to defend themselves from the wanton killings, Agabi argued that the threat to bring the World down by Kanu was a mere boast and should not be used against him to justify terrorism offences.
He said that asking Nigerians to defend themselves is a Constitutional right and has been re-echoed by other Nigerians including General T. Y Danjuma (rtd).
Agabi also faulted the solitary confinement of Kanu in the last 10 years as a violation of International law, stating that solitary confinement must not last for more than 15 days.
Insisting that the ingredients of terrorism charges were not established throughout the trial, Agabi SAN pleaded with the Judge to hold that no prima facie case was made against Kanu to warrant ordering him to enter a defence in the charges.
Justice Omotosho, after taking arguments for and against the no case application, fixed October 10 for ruling.
