The detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, on Monday, questioned the legality of his ongoing trial at the Federal High Court in Abuja, insisting that there is no valid law backing the charges against him.
During the hearing before Justice James Omotosho, Kanu, who appeared in person, stood his ground that the prosecution had failed to identify any existing legal provision establishing the offences for which he is being tried.
Lead prosecuting counsel, Chief Adegboyega Awomolo (SAN), reportedly struggled to cite any extant law supporting the charges, reinforcing Kanu’s long-standing argument that the entire proceedings lack a legal foundation.
Justice Omotosho thereafter ordered Kanu to file a written address within four days on the validity of the charges and serve the same on the prosecution. The judge also cautioned the prosecution against attempts to convert the argument on validity into a final defence address, stressing that the court was only concerned with whether a valid charge exists in law.
Kanu reiterated that his continued trial amounts to an unlawful process, declaring that “there can be no defence where there is no valid charge.”
According to his counsel, Onyedikachi Ifedi, Esq., representing the Nnamdi Kanu Global Defence Consortium, the IPOB leader remains willing to mount a defence once the prosecution identifies a known and subsisting law under which the alleged offences were created.