The Federal High Court in Abuja has accepted a radio transmitter that was purportedly brought into the nation by Nnamdi Kanu, the self-proclaimed leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), who is currently in custody.
According to Justice James Omotosho, the transmitter and the 20-foot container it was reportedly transported in from London entered the nation without the proper Customs paperwork.
The container and radio transmitter were allowed as exhibits by Justice Omotosho during a brief proceeding held on Friday at the Abuja headquarters of the Department of State Services (DSS).
When prosecution attorney Adegboyega Awomolo (SAN) asked the court orally to see the transmitter and container stored in the DSS facility, the court decided to hold the proceeding there.
Midway during the fourth prosecution witness's testimony, Awomolo made the application.
This witness had previously testified regarding the recovery of the transmitter and container from a premises in Ubuluisiuzor, Ihiala Local Government, Anambra State.
According to the prosecutor, the transmitter and container cannot be brought to the court grounds. Therefore, the court should go to their location for inspection and the prosecution should provide them.
After hearing Awomolo's case, the judge approved his request without objection from defence attorney Onyechi Ikpeazu (SAN).
The fourth prosecution witness, a DSS agent, had previously testified that he knew Kanu through his work with IPOB, an organisation calling for the Biafra Republic to be formed in Nigeria. IPOB includes the southeastern states, portions of the South-South, Benue, and Kogi states.
According to him, Kanu incited his supporters to commit acts of violence and terrorism through his radio show, Radio Biafra.
According to the witness, who claimed to have been involved in the investigation into Kanu's alleged wrongdoing, his agency received information in October 2015 suggesting that Kanu had imported an FM radio transmitter in a container.
He claimed that Radio Biafra was planning to utilise the undeclared transmitter, which was found in a container amid domestic goods.
The witness testified that he witnessed the defendant (Kanu) and a colleague (Benjamin Madubugu) examining the transmitter, which they characterised as a revolutionary device, in a subsequent video.
The eyewitness said that he was directed to get a warrant, find the transmitter, and move it after viewing the video. He and others later found the transmitter in the home of Modubugu's family and brother Francis, and moved it.
According to him, a number of items were discovered during the execution of the search warrant at Benjamin Madubugu's residence at Ubuluisiuzor.
These items included a radio transmitter in a 20-foot container, two unlicensed pump action guns, laptop computers, ammunition, and a small amount of marijuana.
The transmitter was hidden among common home objects, such as gently used clothing. Benjamin explained that "one Chimezie came to take them away" when we enquired about the other objects shown in the video.
After thereafter, Awomolo presented a video tape that showed Kanu checking the package and all of its contents, including the transmitter.
While one person helped Kanu open the container, another recorded him as he listed the contents and described how the transmitter would be set up.
With his palm on the transmitter, Kanu also said: "This is the monster itself" on the video. The enemies of Biafra will be destroyed by this... The zoo will be destroyed by this nuclear monster.
According to the witness, when the questioner questioned what Kanu meant by "the zoo," the defendant was making reference to Nigeria.
A witness from Ihiala, Anambra State, revealed that Kanu examined the container on Madubugu's property in Ubuluisiuzor.
Afterwards, they detained Madubugu, who subsequently made a statement explaining how the container ended up to his house, he claimed, after they recovered the transmitter.
The court acknowledged the statement as evidence, which Madubugu had prepared on November 3, 2015, and the witness subsequently read it.
Madubugu acknowledged in his statement, among other things, that he committed to house the container with the understanding that he would retain it even after all of its contents have been eliminated.
Kanu reportedly arrived to inspect the container, and according to Madubugu, he specified that it will be utilised to transmit Radio Biafra events.
He went on to say that in March and April of 2015, Kanu and Chimezie visited his house to film the container inspection.
According to the witness, Justice Binta Nyako, who had previously presided over the matter, arraigned Madubugu and Kanu afterwards. He continued by saying that Madubugu is still before Justice Nyako and that the joint trial was later divided after Kanu skipped bail.
A witness named PW4 testified that he had served in the South-East and that the actions of IPOB and its military affiliate, the Eastern Security Network (ESN), had severely disrupted economic and social life in that region.
The eyewitness testified that ESN serves as IPOB's military wing. Although some IPOB members may not be ESN members, all ESN members are IPOB members.
"The defendant broadcast instructions through Radio Biafra, and they carry them out. They have received instruction in guerilla warfare tactics.
Terrorism is what they do.
They target other ethnic groups, especially the Hausa and Fulani, and inflict harm, murder, and hatred upon them.The court accepted audio recordings of the broadcast that Awomolo later presented.
On May 29, 2021, Kanu made a broadcast in which he attacked David Umahi, the Minister of Works, Rochas Okorocha, the former governor of Imo State, and Hope Uzodinma, the recent governor.
He went on to call for a sit-in on May 31, 2021, after describing the political leaders of the Southeast as despondent, homeless, and ignorant.
Anyone who leaves their house on the specified day in defiance of Kanu's sit-at-home command will die, he warned.
"The Nigerian Army is comprised of cowards, who always attack civilians," Kanu claimed, adding, "If you come out on the 31st you are going to die and if the zoo army tries anything they will be confronted."
Kanu issued a new demand for total lockdown in the Southeast in a broadcast he aired on May 30. He also threatened to burn anyone who opened a shop along with it.
According to what Kanu said in his May 31 broadcast, his followers should concentrate on their adversaries rather than local businesses.
PW4 claimed to have known Nwokike Anyinayo Andy, a commander of ESN better known as Ikonso; however, security agents assassinated him on April 24, 2021, in his hometown of Awomama, Oru East Local Government, Imo State.
Kanu reportedly expressed his condolences for Ikonso's passing, paid tribute to him, and threatened consequences in a broadcast he made on April 25, 2021, according to the witness.
State security forces killed Ikonso while he slept in his home, according to Kanu's broadcast, not when he was fighting. He commanded that the dead be laid to rest and that a unique form of mourning be observed.
According to the witness, IPOB member Emeyiri Uzoma Benjamin, also known as Onye Army, confessed to the authorities that they had only managed to collect 30 heads when they detained him, despite Kanu's claims in one of his broadcasts that Ikonso would be buried with 2000 heads.
A published in the Vanguard newspaper outlining the purported comments made by Benjamin was tendered by the prosecution through the witness.
The next scheduled hearings for this case are on June 18, 19, and 20, during which time the prosecution is expected to present its case.
Thanks for reading: Nnamdi Kanu's trial features the admissibility of a "Radio Biafra" transmitter