Court admits clip of Kanu’s radio Biafra transmitter

Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja on Wednesday admitted three videos, including one in which the detained leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, is seen inspecting a radio transmitter allegedly smuggled into the country.

The Radio Biafra transmitter, known as “Tram 50L,” was kept at Ubuluisiuzor in Ihiala Local Government Area of Anambra State, where Kanu carried out an inspection.

During the proceedings, the IPOB leader alleged that operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) forced him to write statements under duress in October and November 2015.

The third prosecution witness, a DSS operative identified as Mr CCC, testified that he first met Kanu in October 2015 and led interviews with him at the DSS Headquarters from 21st to 23rd October, as well as on 24th October 2015.

He informed the court that the interviews were recorded, that Kanu did not object to the recordings, and that Kanu also provided written statements.

Counsel to the prosecution, Chief Adegboyega Awomolo, SAN, presented two compact discs, which the witness identified as recordings of the interviews.

The two CDs were tendered and admitted in evidence by Awomolo, who then produced three copies of written statements that the witness identified as having been made by Kanu.

Initially, counsel to the IPOB leader, Chief Kanu Agabi, SAN, did not object to the statements being admitted in court. However, he later informed the court that Kanu had just told him that he had given those statements under duress.

The senior lawyer stated that Kanu had been made to write his statements without his lawyer present and that he had been detained in solitary confinement in a dungeon. He also claimed that the DSS officer who took the statement was Mr Brown, not Mr CCC, who was in the witness dock.

He asserted that Kanu had been threatened with continued detention in the dungeon if he did not write what he was instructed to.

Awomolo, however, told the court that the allegations of duress were false and could not be substantiated by the defendant.

He stated that they had video evidence showing Kanu being interviewed and making the written statements without any evidence of harassment or coercion by DSS operatives.

At this point, Justice Omotosho ordered a trial-within-trial to ascertain the veracity of the allegations of duress.

The judge explained that, by law, whenever an issue of involuntariness is raised, the Evidence Act requires a trial-within-trial to determine whether a statement was obtained under duress. He added that proving duress would render the statement inadmissible.

Justice Omotosho further informed the parties in the case that at the conclusion of the trial-within-trial, the court would also rule on how the absence of the defendant’s lawyers affects his case.

During the trial-within-trial, the witness denied claims that DSS operatives had used threats of solitary confinement to extract statements from Kanu.

The defendant had alleged that a DSS operative, Mr Brown, had made the threats about solitary confinement in the dungeon. However, the witness clarified that the officers involved in the interview were James, Ibrahim, and Collins, with no Mr Brown among them.

Mr CCC stated that Kanu had been given presidential treatment and expressed disbelief at the allegations that force had been used to compel him to make specific statements, including calling Presidents Jonathan and Buhari unprintable names and accusing Senator Rochas Okorocha of “Islamising” his people.

“These were statements he allegedly made during an interview with a US-based online medium known as Sahara Reporters. It was during the same interview that Kanu used the term ‘Zoo’ to refer to Nigeria,” the witness said.

The contentious items are three written statements made by Kanu at DSS Headquarters on 23rd and 24th October and 4th November 2015. These statements, along with video recordings of his oral statements from 21st and 23rd October 2015, were also tendered.

In the three footages played in court by the prosecution to prove that Kanu had made his statements voluntarily, the Biafra nation agitator admitted to being the founder and director of Radio Biafra.

During the trial-within-trial, Kanu took the witness stand to give evidence in his case.

He testified that he was struck by a DSS operative when he was arrested in Lagos in 2015 but that the same operative later apologised while they were on their way to the airport en route to Abuja.

Meanwhile, the court has adjourned the case till Thursday, 29th May, for the continuation of the hearing and the ruling on the admissibility of the statements.

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