IPOB Calls Trial of Nnamdi Kanu a “Full-Blown Indictment” of Nigeria’s Judiciary

The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has branded the ongoing trial of its leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, as a “full-blown indictment” of Nigeria’s judicial system and an exposure of the Federal Government’s reckless abuse of the courts.

In a statement released on Friday, IPOB spokesman Emma Powerful condemned the Federal Government’s attempt to link Kanu to the 2020 #EndSARS protests during proceedings at the Federal High Court in Abuja on Thursday.

Powerful said, “Thursday, June 19, 2025, marks a pivotal moment in a case that has from inception been sustained by deceit, media manipulation, evidentiary fraud, and a campaign to criminalise self-determination.”

With the prosecution, led by Chief Awomolo, SAN, closing its case, the defense team, led by Chief Kanu Agabi, SAN, announced plans to file a ‘No-Case Submission’ citing the prosecution’s failure to produce any evidence connecting Kanu to terrorism or any other offence. Justice James Omotosho adjourned the case to July 18, 2025, for final submissions.

The prosecution’s last witness, PW5-EEE, an intelligence officer, was discredited during cross-examination by Dr. Onyechi Ikpeazu, SAN, appearing evasive and contradictory. The prosecution’s lead counsel publicly cautioned the witness, while the judge showed visible exasperation.

Powerful described the government’s attempt to blame Kanu for the #EndSARS protests as “absurd,” noting that the protests were a grassroots youth-led movement that began in Ughelli, Delta State.

No evidence was presented to prove claims that IPOB was responsible for the deaths of 200 security operatives in the South-East. The assessment report linking IPOB to these incidents was only fabricated in June 2025, despite the alleged events occurring in 2020.

“The autopsy reports and coroner’s certificates were unsigned, unverifiable and riddled with forgeries,” Powerful said, calling the prosecution’s case “fiction, not law.”

IPOB urged Nigerians and the international community to obtain certified copies of the court proceedings to witness the government’s case collapse.

“Kanu is a man of peace, on trial for speaking truth to power,” the statement concluded. “History will remember those who exposed this injustice.”