The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has denounced a ruling by Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court in Abuja, which directed that its detained leader, Nnamdi Kanu, must “explain certain things” in his ongoing trial.
In a statement on Saturday, IPOB’s spokesman, Emma Powerful, accused the judiciary of turning the trial into a “charade” and of shifting the burden of proof from the prosecution to the accused. “Does the judge not know that Section 36 of the constitution forbids compelling any defendant to testify against himself?” the statement read. “By demanding that our leader ‘explain,’ Justice Omotosho is not applying the law; he is aiding persecution.”
Kanu, who faces terrorism-related charges, was first arrested in 2015 and granted bail two years later. After fleeing abroad following a military raid on his home, he was re-arrested in Kenya in 2021 under disputed circumstances and returned to Nigeria to face trial. His case has since become one of the most high-profile and politically charged in the country, navigating years of appeals and accusations of executive overreach.
Human rights lawyer Christopher Chidera also criticised the ruling, describing it as a “grave violation of constitutional safeguards” and warning that it sets a “dangerous precedent” for fair trial rights in Nigeria. He urged the Court of Appeal to intervene swiftly and called on the Nigerian Bar Association and the National Judicial Council to investigate what he described as recurring judicial lapses.
Chidera further appealed to international human rights organisations to monitor the case, citing Nigeria’s obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.
For IPOB, the latest development confirms what it has long argued: that the trial of its leader is less about justice and more about silencing demands for self-determination in the south-east.
