After days of refusing to heed the court’s advice to file his defence, separatist leader Nnamdi Kanu has now complied and on Friday commenced the process of filing his defence in his terrorism trial at the Federal High Court, Abuja.
Mr. Kanu was filing the documents inside the courtroom, as directed by Justice James Omotosho, at the time of this report.
When the trial resumed on Friday — after being adjourned on Wednesday — Mr. Kanu told the court that he had an important process to file, which he claimed he had not previously been allowed to do.
Following his complaint, the judge ordered that the court’s registry be temporarily relocated to the courtroom to enable Mr. Kanu to complete the filing.
The lawyer representing the Federal Government, Adegboyega Awomolo (SAN), told the court that he would accept the documents from Mr. Kanu and respond accordingly.
At the time of this report, proceedings had been stood down for one hour to allow the filing to be concluded.
Before now, Mr. Kanu had refused to open his defence, insisting that he had “no case to answer.”
The judge on Wednesday gave him a final chance to open his defence — a scenario that has played out repeatedly in the past month.
The Nigerian government has been prosecuting Mr. Kanu on seven terrorism-related charges since 2015. The charges stem from his alleged violent secessionist campaigns for the independence of the Igbo-dominated South-East region of Nigeria as Biafra.
Mr. Kanu, a dual Nigerian and British citizen, has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.
The prosecution closed its case with five witnesses in June. Afterward, Mr. Kanu filed a no-case submission, arguing that the prosecution failed to present credible evidence to warrant his defence.
However, in September, Justice Omotosho dismissed the no-case submission, ruling that Mr. Kanu had a case to answer and should enter his defence.
Since then, the case has suffered several adjournments as Mr. Kanu — who disengaged his lawyers and opted to defend himself — continued to insist that there was no valid charge against him.
He argued that the charges were filed under a repealed terrorism law.
On Wednesday, Justice Omotosho reminded Mr. Kanu to “keep his gunpowder dry” for his defence after his repeated insistence that the charges were invalid.
Mr. Kanu said he would need to consult with his four legal consultants — Nnaemeka Ejiofor, Aloy Ejimakor, Maxwell Okpara, and Mandela Umegborogu — after which the case was adjourned to Friday (today).