Kanu Agabi, a senior lawyer and lead counsel to Nnamdi Kanu, has formally withdrawn his legal representation for the detained leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
During Thursday’s court session, Agabi informed the court that Kanu had opted to personally handle his defence. All senior advocates of Nigeria (SANs) on the defence team also withdrew from the case — a move Kanu himself confirmed before the judge.
“I will be representing myself for now,” Kanu told the court. When the presiding judge asked if he wanted a lawyer assigned to him, he declined, insisting that he would decide on legal representation later.
Defending himself orally, Kanu argued that the court lacked the jurisdiction to try him.
Kanu, who was first arrested in 2015 and later fled the country after securing bail in 2017, was re-arrested in 2021 and has remained in the custody of the Department of State Services (DSS). The federal government continues to prosecute him on charges of treasonable felony and terrorism, alleging that IPOB’s activities under his leadership incited violence and promoted secessionist agitation in the South-East.
In a new application filed before the Federal High Court in Abuja on Tuesday, Kanu stated that he is ready to proceed with his defence. He informed the court that he intends to call two categories of witnesses — “ordinary but material witnesses” and “vital and compellable” witnesses, to be summoned under Section 232 of the Evidence Act, 2011.
Among those listed as “vital and compellable” are Theophilus Danjuma, former minister of defence; Tukur Buratai, former chief of army staff; Babajide Sanwo-Olu, governor of Lagos State; Hope Uzodimma, governor of Imo State; and Nyesom Wike, minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). Others include Okezie Ikpeazu, former governor of Abia State; Dave Umahi, minister of works; Abubakar Malami, former attorney-general of the federation; Ahmed Rufai, immediate past director-general of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA); Yusuf Bichi, former DSS director-general; and Oluwatosin Adeola Ajayi, current DSS DG.
The IPOB leader also asked the court to grant him 90 days to conclude his defence, citing the number of witnesses and the complexity of evidence he intends to present.
