A Federal High Court in Abuja heard yesterday how the leader of the proscribed Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, admitted operating an illegal radio station and inciting members of the public to attack police officers.
This was part of the testimony of a witness, an official of the Department of State Services (DSS), while testifying as the second prosecution witness (PW2) in Kanu’s ongoing terrorism trial before Justice James Omotosho.
The witness, Kanu, confirmed his activities while giving his statement.
Led in evidence by prosecuting lawyer, Adegboyega Awomolo (SAN) the PW2 said beside being the leader of the proscribed IPOB, Kanu is the founder of the Eastern Security Network (ESN), the armed wing of IPOB.
The witness said Kanu also operated an illegal radio station, which broadcast on frequencies 102.1 FM and 88.0 FM.
He said the radio was unlawful because it was not licensed by the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC).
He added that on July 2021, he was assigned the duty of taking Kanu’s statement following a letter from the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) requesting that the IPOB leader be investigated for his alleged terrorism activities.
The witness said that while carrying out the assignment in the company of four other colleagues, he handed Kanu the letter from the AGF, which the defendant read and also gave his lawyers to read.
Then, he requested that Kanu respond to the issues raised in the letter.
He said that after reading the letter, Kanu volunteered to make a statement in the presence of two of his lawyers, including Alloy Ejimakor.
The witness said he played some of the broadcasts made by the defendant on his radio station (Radio Biafra), including where he called for the attack on police officers and made other inciting comments.
PW2 said Kanu admitted that the voice in the broadcast, which he played to his hearing, was his (Kanu’s) own.
On what Kanu was agitating about, the witness said Kanu wanted the secession of the five South East states, parts of Kogi and Benue states, from the rest of Nigeria.
The witness said the defendant’s statement-taking session was recorded on video.
At that point, Awomolo showed the witness a copy of a compact disc, which PW2 identified as containing the recording of his interaction with Kanu.
Awomolo then applied to tender the letter from the AGF, the disc and a certificate of compliance.
But, lawyer to the defence, Kanu Agabi (SAN) objected to the prosecution’s application to tender the items, arguing that the defence was not served with the AGF letter and the video recording.
Agabi said it was part of the defendant’s right to be given copies of all documents and materials that the prosecution planned to rely on in prosecuting the case.
Ruling, Justice James Omotosho held that the defence was entitled to all the documents and materials the prosecution planned to rely on.
Justice Omotosho proceeded to order the prosecution to serve on the defendant all facilities, including documents, that it intends to rely on to prosecute the case, in accordance with the provisions of Section 36 of the Constitution.
Upon an application by Awomolo, Justice Omotosho adjourned till May 7 to enable the prosecution to serve the defence with all the necessary documents and for the PW 2 to continue his testimony.
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