Abuja, Nigeria \u2014 The Federal High Court in Abuja has adjourned the trial of Biafra agitator Nnamdi Kanu to Wednesday, November 5, giving him a final opportunity to open his defence or waive his right to do so.<\/p>\n
The presiding judge, Justice James Omotosho, made the ruling following Kanu\u2019s continued refusal to present his defence in the ongoing terrorism case, maintaining that there is no valid legal basis for the charges against him.<\/p>\n
Kanu Challenges the Legality of His Trial<\/p>\n
At Monday\u2019s hearing, a visibly agitated Nnamdi Kanu questioned the legality of the proceedings, demanding that the court specify the law under which he is being tried.<\/p>\n
\u201cTell me by what law I am being tried. If that is not stated, I will not return to DSS custody,\u201d he declared.<\/p>\n
Kanu insisted that he could not be tried \u201cunless the law is written,\u201d and therefore maintained his refusal to open his defence.<\/p>\n
Judge Warns Defendant on Legal Options<\/p>\n
Setting the record straight, Justice Omotosho reminded the defendant that, having lost his no-case submission, he has only two legal options \u2014 to open his defence or rest on the prosecution\u2019s case.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt this stage, the defendant can either open his defence or rest on the prosecution\u2019s submissions. The implications are clear,\u201d the judge said.<\/p>\n
The judge dismissed Kanu\u2019s reliance on Section 36(12) of the Constitution, which states that no one shall be convicted for an offence not defined by law. Justice Omotosho clarified that the section does not apply at this stage of the proceedings, as the case is yet to reach the point of conviction or sentencing.<\/p>\n
Extraordinary Rendition Argument Rejected<\/p>\n
Justice Omotosho also noted that Kanu\u2019s claim of extraordinary rendition had no bearing on the current trial, stressing that no evidence, either oral or documented, was presented to support that argument.<\/p>\n
Prosecution Accuses Kanu of Stalling<\/p>\n
Lead prosecutor, Adegboyega Awomolo (SAN), accused Kanu of \u201cplaying to the gallery and social media,\u201d urging the court to adjourn for judgment since the defendant had repeatedly refused to open his defence.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe case has reached a point where the court should no longer play the bishop by constantly urging him to get counsel,\u201d Awomolo said, adding that judicial time must be used efficiently.<\/p>\n
Following the submissions, Justice Omotosho adjourned the proceedings to Wednesday, November 5, describing it as a potentially defining moment in the high-profile terrorism case that has spanned nearly a decade.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Abuja, Nigeria \u2014 The Federal High Court in Abuja has adjourned the trial of Biafra agitator Nnamdi Kanu to Wednesday, November 5, giving him a final opportunity to open his defence or waive his right to do so. The presiding judge, Justice James Omotosho, made the ruling following Kanu\u2019s continued refusal to present his defence […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3264,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"Justice Omotosho adjourns Nnamdi Kanu\u2019s terrorism trial to November 5, warning he must open defence or lose that right.","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8488","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8488"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8488"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8488\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8491,"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8488\/revisions\/8491"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3264"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8488"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8488"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8488"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}