One of the witnesses called by the Federal Government of Nigeria to testify against the Leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu, over the alleged act of terrorism, secretly gave his testimony on Tuesday before the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, with the coordinating lawyer to Nnamdi Kanu, Barrister Aloy Ejimakor, saying, the FG witness was only identified merely by initials and the person gave his testimony against Nnamdi Kanu behind the screen, following the application filed by the Federal Government lawyers as approved by the trial Judge to keep the identities of the FG witnesses secret, this, Aloy Ejimakor tweeted while the court proceeding was ongoing, that, the Federal Government only has three Senior Advocates of Nigeria, SAN, that, six SAN have stood firmly behind the detained Biafra Leader. 

According to Aloy Ejimakor tweet: “The Court in Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s case has convened. The Judge is on seat and appearances for the parties are being announced. Federal Government has 3 SAN; MNK has 6 SAN. The die is cast and we’re primed and ready to rumble.

Update: Today’s MNK hearing has been concluded. The prosecution presented its first witness who was not identified by name but by initials only and he testified from behind a screen, as was approved by the Judge. On 2nd May, we shall cross-examine him and test his veracity”.

A day earlier, Aloy Ejimakor said; “Update: In addition to Chief Kanu Agabi, SAN and Uchenna Njoku, SAN, 4 more SAN have joined Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s legal team. They’re: Professor Onyechi Ikpeazu, SAN, Emeka Etiaba, SAN, Mela Audu Nunghe, SAN and Dr Joseph Akubo, SAN. They will all be in Court on 29th April, 2nd and 6th May”.

Meanwhile, the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja gave the Federal Government the nod to shield identities of witnesses billed to testify against the detained leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu as the trial Judge, Justice James Omotosho gave the approval in a ruling he delivered on Tuesday.

The ruling followed an ex-parte application that FG filed through its team of prosecutors led by Chief Adegboyega Awomolo, SAN.

The court gave permission for the proposed witnesses to testify behind a screen with their real names replaced with acronyms.

FG’s lawyer, Awomolo, SAN, pleaded that identities of the witnesses needed to be protected for security reasons and in view of the serious nature of the case.

While the witnesses would be shielded from the public, they would however be seen by the judge.

Nigeria news media reproters who monitored the proceedings, reported that the request was not opposed by Kanu’s team of lawyers led by a former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Chief Kanu Agabi, SAN.

Sequel to the ruling, FG opened its case against the embattled IPOB leader by presenting its first witness, who was simply identified as PWAAA.

Pleading not guilty, Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), told the Federal High Court in Abuja that his fight for the emancipation of the South-East, South-South, and parts of Benue and Kogi States is within his fundamental human rights.

Kanu made the statement during resumed trial on charges related to terrorism on Tuesday before Justice James Omotosho in the court sitting in Abuja.

In a statement read out in court, Kanu emphasised that freedom fighting is not a crime anywhere in the world, including Nigeria.

The statement, which was made to the Department of State Services (DSS) in Lagos on October 15, 2015, was admitted as evidence in court.

Kanu also stated that he was interrogated by the DSS without the presence of his lawyer, which is a breach of his rights.

The court also admitted video recordings of Kanu’s interrogation and four suitcases containing personal belongings, including Biafra radio equipment, recovered from his hotel room.

The Nigerian government lawyer, Adegboyega Awomolo, SAN, applied to the court that the statement should be read in the open court.

The items recovered from MNK’s ‘Bag A’ and being presented to the court by the witness number One are:

1, Black laptop
2, Multi mix transmitter
3, Mini white note Apple iPad with pouch
4, 1 grey Apple iPad with pouch
5, 1 grey MacBook with pouch
6, 1 grey MacBook with case
7, 1 mini drone sound wave speaker
8, 2 mini white speakers
9, 1 large computer mouse
10, 1 white adaptor
11, 1 laptop adaptor
12, 1 carton bag with laptop.

Kanu, whose trial started de-novo (afresh) following the reassignment of his case-file to Justice Omotosho, had earlier pleaded not guilty to a seven-count treasonable felony charge the government preferred against him.

We had reported that Justice James Omotosho, the new judge that took over the case of the detained Biafra agitation leader, Nnamdi Kanu has accepted the apology tendered by Nnamdi Kanu through one of his lawyers, Barrister Kanu Agabi, a Cross River State born former Senator in the Nigeria National Assembly and two time Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice under the then President Olusegun Obasanjo, over the detained Biafra leader’s outburst or manner he protested sequel to his rejection of the former Judge, Justice Binta Nyako, when the case started afresh on Friday with the new judge which Nnamdi Kanu pleaded not guilty to the seven counts terrorism charges filed against him by the Federal Government.

We had reported that the detained Biafra Republic agitation leader, Nnamdi Kanu has not been released by the Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, Nigeria National Judicial Council, NJC says in reaction to viral rumours that the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB leader has been set free by the CJN on the ground that Nigeria courts under her leadership have no jurisdiction over the freedom fighter’s case due to the way and manner he was forcefully extradited from Kenya to Nigeria in 2021.

We had reported that the detained Leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu on Valentine’s day send a message to the lovers, supporters of the Biafra Republic agitation and the general public that he would remain in detention until impartial and unbiased judge takeover the case of alleged terrorism filed against him by the Federal Government of Nigeria, narrating how the judiciary has been biased against him since years of his detention.

We had reported that Justice Binta Nyako of Federal High Court in Abuja has adjourned indefinitely after the detained leader of Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu as seen in a privileged video footage during February 10, 2025 court session, staged a resistance protest, insisting while confronting the judge face to face including the prosecuting counsel, Adegboyega Awomolo that Justice Binta who is an indigene of Katsina State, same state with former President Muhammadu Buhari is biased, saying, Justice Nyako who had held a political position of Katsina State Attorney General and Commissioner of Justice that her court is not a court of law but a shrine of injustice, accusing the judge of poke nosing with authorities to pass wrong judgement against him inorder to be left off the hook by the Federal Government, her son, Abdul-Aziz Nyako and her husband, retired Vice Admiral Murtala Nyako who was once Chief of Naval Staff, Deputy Chief of Defence Staff, pioneer former military Governor of Niger State, two times Governor of Adamawa State who were impeached twice by Adamawa State House of Assembly for misconduct, one of the soldiers that fought against Biafra during Nigeria civil war, a current member of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC who is facing corruption charges alongside his son in a criminal allegation filed before court of law since 2015 by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC over alleged cases of abuse of office, criminal conspiracy, theft and money laundering.

We had October, 2024 reported that the Chief Judge of Federal High Court in Nigeria, Justice John Terhemba Tsoho has rejected the verbal plea by the detained Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu for the trial judge in the case, Justice Binta Nyako to withdraw being the judge over the lawsuits.

Justice Tsoho stated that Kanu’s case was reassigned to Justice Nyako due to its prolonged nature, dating back to 2015. Given that Justice Nyako had handled the case for the most part, she was deemed the most suitable judge to see it through to its conclusion.

However, the Chief Judge directed that if at the next hearing of the case, Kanu still insists on recusing Justice Nyako, he must file a written motion with an affidavit, stating all the grounds for requesting the recusal.

We had reported in September 2024 that Justice Binta Nyako of Federal High Court sitting in Abuja have withdrawn from the case of  detained Biafra Leader, Nnamdi Kanu after the trial could not commence following the Biafra Leader’s personal confrontation with the judge for the second time in the year.

We had reported in May 2024 that, in a rare case in the history of legal proceedings in the world, Nnamdi Kanu, the detained Leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB helped himself at the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja and played the role of a lawyer with full energy and vibrant command of words with fearless loud voice defended himself  with face to face confrontation with the trial judge, Justice Binta Nyako and the Federal Government Prosecution counsel, Adegboyega Awomolo.

Kanu is being prosecuted by the Federal Government on a seven-count bordering on terrorism.