Trouble As FG Files Fresh Charges Against IPOB Leader Nnamdi Kanu

The Buhari-led government has filed additional charges against the leader of the Indigenous People Of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu.

According to a statement by Barrister Ifeanyi Ejiofor, the lead counsel to the detained IPOB leader on his facebook page, a total of 15-Count Amended Charge has been filed and served on Nnamdi Kanu barely barely 24 hours to his trial schedule to hold today, Tuesday, January 18, 2022.

Kanu who initially faced a seven-count treasonable felony charge will now enter his fresh plea to a 15-count amended charge.

Ejiofor stated that on his visit to where Kanu was detained on Monday, January 17, 2022, "we were served with a 15-Count Amended Charge filed by the Director of Public Prosecution of the Federation in respect of a case already scheduled tomorrow, for the hearing of our Preliminary objection challenging the competence of the 7-Count Amended Charge"

He however noted that the Federal Government is scouting for an opportunity to truncate preceedings scheduled for Tuesday, January 18, 2022, and further delay Nnamdi Kanu's trial.

"This is indeed a joke taken too far as the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) is now scouting for an opportunity to truncate tomorrow’s proceeding, knowing fully well that the smokescreen charge is dead on arrival..

"We wish to categorically point out with dismay, that this further Amended Charge is the WORST kind of abuse of legal process that we have encountered in the history of legal practice - either in Nigeria or anywhere in the world. 

"This 15-Count Amended Charge was no doubt brought in bad faith and is aimed at needlessly prolonging proceedings in the cause.

"The same FGN that brought our Client to Court is needlessly initiating processes that will delay the trial".

Nnamdi Kanu was first arrested in 2015 on charges bordering on terrorism, treasonable felony, managing an unlawful society, publication of defamatory matter, illegal possession of firearms, and improper importation of goods, among others.

The IPOB leader, who was initially detained and arraigned in court, fled the country in 2017 after he was granted bail for medical reasons.

Although he was later sighted in Israel, he was intercepted in June 2021 and repatriated to Nigeria – about four years since he jumped bail.

Amid the calls for his release by some prominent individuals and groups in the South East, President Muhammadu Buhari hosted a group of leaders from the region under the aegis of Highly Respected Igbo Greats.

At the meeting held in November last year, the President promised to consider the request for Kanu’s release, although he said it was “an extremely difficult demand”.

The group had pleaded for a political, rather than military solution to the crisis in the region and promised to call Kanu and order agitators in the South East to order.

Barely two months after the meeting, President Buhari, in an exclusive interview with Channels Television, stated that the IPOB leader should answer for his actions over the years, especially while he was out of the country.