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Again, Kanu opts to defend himself! Appeals Omotosho’s life-sentence conviction
Nnamdi Kanu, jailed currently serving a life sentence on the verdict of Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court, Abuja, who jailed him for terrorism on November 20, 2025, has again given notice that he might be defending himself after he took the matter upstairs at the Court of Appeal in Abuja.
Kanu, who file his appeal on Wednesday, directly challenged Omotosho’s verdict, saying it was fraught with judicial errors, legal inconsistencies and abuse of his fundamental rights, especially to fair hearing, urging the appellate court to intervene in the matter and set him free.
For instance, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), had maintained that Omotosho erred in law by failing to resolve the procedural and competence consequences of the foundational disruption of the original trial process in September 2017 (Operation Python Dance II), thereby occasioning a miscarriage of justice.”
Stressing the details of the incident in the particulars of the error, Kanu told the appellate court that in September 2017, his residence at Afara-Ukwu was invaded during ‘Operation Python Dance II’ by Nigerian State agents, adding: “The said operation resulted in deaths and destruction and triggered disruption of the earlier proceedings.
“The Appellant’s case thereafter proceeded in a manner that required the trial court to first determine the legal effect of that foundational disruption on competence. The trial court proceeded to take evidence and deliver judgment without first resolving the foundational competence implications arising from the said State action. The judgment of conviction was delivered on 20 November 2025 notwithstanding the unresolved foundational competence issues.”
Arguing that his objection which was supported by affidavit evidence, challenged the competence of the proceedings on threshold jurisdictional grounds, he added: “Justice Omotosho equally erred in law by failing, refusing or neglecting to hear and determine the Appellant’s pending Preliminary Objection challenging the competence of the proceedings before proceeding to trial and judgment.
“The Learned Trial Judge did not hear or determine the objection. The court proceeded with evidence and delivered judgment on 20 November 2025 while the objection remained pending and undetermined.”
On another ground, the IPOB leader, argued that the trial judge proceeded to judgement and convicted him when his pending bail application remained undetermined, thereby affecting the fairness of the process, apart from erring in law by imposing sentence without taking his allocutus and by imposing excessive and/or unlawful sentences without considering relevant mitigation factors.
His words: “Upon conviction, the Appellant was not afforded the opportunity to address the court in mitigation (allocutus). Sentence was imposed without allocutus. The court did not consider relevant mitigation or sentencing factors.”
Aside from praying the Court of Appeal to quash his conviction on all the counts in the charge marked: FHC/ABJ/CR/383/2015, Kanu, who applied for an order setting aside the sentences/punishment imposed on him by the High Court, directly prayed for: “An Order of the Honourable Court of Appeal discharging and acquitting the Appellant in respect of all the counts in charge No.FHC/ABJ/CR/383/2015.”
Stressing the possibility of his defending himself, which he said meant he would be physically present to conduct his matter, he told the appellate court: “I desire to put my case and argument into writing and also adopt my argument orally in the court on the hearing of the appeal.”
The echoes of the drums rolled out to celebrate the rescue of the 44 teachers and students, kidnapped from some schools in Oyo State, after 56 days in the bush, would surely be disrupted abruptly, with the divergent echoes of a fresh abduction, this time coming from Kogi State.
Reports indicate that the gunmen, struck on Tuesday at the Government Secondary School, Odo-Ekina, in Dekina Local Government Area of the state, abducting four students, the school principal and a National Examinations Council (NECO) ad hoc staff member.
Authorities of the Kogi State Police Command, who immediately unleashed their operatives in hot pursuit of the abductors, said the attack occurred at about 5:25 p.m. while the students were writing their NECO examination.
Saliu Oyiza Afusat, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) and spokesman of the command, said a combined team of police personnel and other security agencies has launched a search-and-rescue operation following the incident.
Informing that one of the students was actually rescued immediately, she said efforts were ongoing to secure the release of the remaining victims and apprehend the attackers, adding that Naziru Bello Kankarofi, the state Commissioner of Police, alongside the Brigade Commander and the State Security Adviser to the Governor, Commodore Jerry Omodara (Rtd), were already on the way to the scene for an on-the-spot assessment.
Oil prices are expected to go down now with the announcement of Donald Trump, US President that he will no longer impose a 20 percent “safe passage” fee on ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
The POTUS, hinged his reversal of the decision on the intervention from some Gulf countries, who pleaded with him not to toe the line due to the massive economic impact the decision would make on the region.
Indeed, oil prices had shot up immediately Trump announced the new levy on Monday while declaring the US ‘the guardians of the Hormuz strait,’ a measure which he said was to pay for the cost of guarding the volatile area in order keep supply of oil flowing.
Reports said that Gulf allies of the US worked frantically to get Trump on the phone in time to talk him out of the idea altogether, while a flurry of appeals came from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Qatar.
In response, the POTUS, posting on his Truth Social platform, wrote: “Based on highly productive conversations with Middle East leadership, I have decided to replace the 20% United States Reimbursement Fee with Trade and Investment Deals that the various Gulf States will be making into the United States.”
Trump, who said the investments would be “MASSIVE but, at the same time, extraordinarily good for them, and their future,” added that the deals would see factories, plants, and equipment pour into the US at “Historic levels.”
The Gulf nations have committed to invest trillions of dollars in the US, though it remains unclear how much of that they will actually spend over the next several years.
Meanwhile, the US continues to bomb Iran in what appears to be a resumption of active conflict between both countries, despite an ongoing roadmap to end the conflict.
Reports say operatives of the Osun State Police Command, and those of the Department of State Services (DSS) had tracking the trail of Adeniyi Adeyemi, controversial Director General of the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), for weeks, before he was eventually pulled out of his hole on Tuesday.
However, the duo, were said to have pulled back after failing to track him through his mobile phones, which he had reportedly switched off for about two days, making it difficult to locate him, leaving the stage for the members of the Police Intelligence Response Team (PI-RT) led by Moses Lohor, a Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP).
Lohor, said to have previously served as the Commander of the Anti-Kidnapping Squad of Osun State, and reported to have been involved in high-profile security operations and controversies, after taken over fielded his men to pick up signals from their well-oiled signal networks.
Regarded by many Osun residents as one of the key security officers who contributed significantly to the peace and stability enjoyed in Ilesa and other parts of the state during his tenure, he was said to have relied on his contacts before his transfer out of the state, said to have raised concerns from the public about the security situation he would be leaving behind.
His exit from the state was said to be hinged on an incident in 2024, in which he allegedly shot one Iyanda Alowonle, then Chairman of Osun State Motor Transport System, in the stomach at the police station in the state prompting an order for his arrest by then Inspector General of Police (IGP).
His effort was said to have paid off when he successfully tracked down the controversial PFIPC, boss, who was seen on Tuesday evening, in a shot video on social media undergoing interrogation, and eventually handed him over to Ibrahim Gotan, Commissioner of Police in the state.
The PUNCH quoted one of the sources as saying: “The arrest (of Adeyemi) took place on Tuesday morning by the IRT squad, who immediately moved him to Abuja. After he was arrested, he was taken to Ibadan and from there to Abuja.”
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