Uchechi Okwu-Kanu, the wife of Nnamdi Kanu, has strongly criticised the life sentence handed to her husband by the Federal High Court in Abuja.
She accused the trial judge of ignoring key constitutional requirements during the judgment delivered on Thursday.
Wife of IPOB Leader Faults Court Process
Uchechi insisted that a judge must read out the written law guiding any terrorism charge before asking a defendant to open a defence.
She claimed the judge read from a script and struggled to pronounce some parts of the judgment.
Her reaction followed the ruling which sentenced Kanu, leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra, to life imprisonment after he was convicted on seven terrorism charges.
Court’s Position on the Terrorism Case
Justice James Omotosho delivered the judgment after finding that the prosecution provided clear evidence to support its case.
According to the court, Kanu did not present a defence and instead chose to rely on the prosecution’s evidence, which left the judge with no other option.
GistReel earlier reported that the conviction covered all seven counts filed by the Department of State Services.
Uchechi Kanu’s Detailed Claims
Reacting, Uchechi said: “In Nigeria, a judge cannot ask a defendant to open a defense on terrorism related charges without reading out the written law under which the court is trying that person.
“Okay, so the constitution of the Federal Republic of of Nigeria, 1999 as amended, section 36, I mean, I’m sure that is very familiar to everyone now.
“It provides that a person shall not be convicted of a criminal offense unless the the offense is defined and the penalty prescribed as in a written law. So what Omotosho has done today is a script, a written script for him to read out.
“Everyone could hear him. Everyone could see that he was reading a script handed over to him and that he could barely read out some of the words in his own very written judgment. How interesting. How interesting.
“I’ve had to quickly tweet and well post the the travesty of justice today regarding how Omotosho ignored the Constitution’s requirement that none can be convicted under an unwritten or unknown offense.
“He forced Mazi Nnamdi Kanu to take a plea under a repealed law, which Mazi Nnamdi Kanu refused. So show me where it is written before I can enter into a defense. And that never happened.
“Omotosho refused, blatantly, flagrantly, to issue written rulings on serious applications. So you could hear him reading. You could hear him counting 1000s of lines of hours of account.
“But then he refused to issue a written a written ruling, which he ought to have done first, but never did. He told Mazi Nnamdi Kanu to put all objections in a final address, then block the final address. So if you were Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, you will be as outraged as he was this afternoon.
“You cannot ask me to put my final address, put it down, write it down, and then you block it. So Mazi Nnamdi Kanu has right.
“It is his right to put a final address down, to write it down. But a Omotosho blocked that and decided to read out those nonsense he called counts.”