*No valid charge against IPOB leader, says lawyer
The Federal High Court in Abuja has, again, given the Biafra nation agitator, Nnamdi Kanu, till November 7 to defend the terrorism charges brought against him by the Federal Government or waive his right to do so.
This is as Kanu stood his ground in court yesterday, maintaining there are no valid terrorism charges against him, and, therefore, would offer no defence.
Justice James Omotosho, who offered Kanu another opportunity, said that he granted the fresh opportunity in the interest of justice to the defendant and the nation.
At Wednesday’s proceedings, when Kanu was called to open his defence, he, instead, faulted the charges, insisting that he had nothing to defend in respect of a repealed law.
Rather than responding to the business of the day, he took hours addressing the court on why the charges against him cannot stand. Among others, he said that the Supreme Court, in the judgment that ordered his trial, made it abundantly clear to the Federal Government to amend the charge because the one against him had been repealed.
He said that till now, the charge had not been amended by the prosecution, thereby violating the order of the apex court. Kanu persistently insisted that the refusal of the Federal Government to amend the charge was fatal to his trial, adding that no trial can hold in a repealed law.
“The Terrorism Prevention and Prohibition Act has been repealed. I cannot put in defence under a repealed law. I won’t do that,” he said. Justice Omotosho reminded him of the need to keep his gun powder dry, but declined, maintaining he had not seen any reason to open a defence in the instant charge. At a point, he agreed to open up the defence, demanding to consult with his four legal consultants.
MEANWHILE, a member of the Nnamdi Kanu Global Defence Consortium, Onyedikachi Ifedi, has declared that there is no valid living charge against the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
Ifedi’s declaration is coming amid the November 7 deadline issued by Justice Kolawole Omotosho of the Abuja Federal High Court for Kanu to open his defence or waive the right.
In a legal note made available to journalists yesterday, Ifedi said there is no valid charge on which the Nigerian government could continue to prosecute Kanu.
“Kanu has no valid living or extant charge against him. The entire charge sheet is a legal corpse – repealed, non-existent, and unamended in open defiance of a Supreme Court order.
“That is not opinion. That is black-letter law. That is Section 36(12) of the 1999 Constitution. That is the Supreme Court judgment of December 15, 2023. That is the truth the judge refused to acknowledge today,” the lawyer asserted.
