{"id":123312,"date":"2025-10-27T17:15:29","date_gmt":"2025-10-27T16:15:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?p=123312"},"modified":"2025-10-27T17:15:29","modified_gmt":"2025-10-27T16:15:29","slug":"nnamdi-kanu-faults-terrorism-trial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/nnamdi-kanu-faults-terrorism-trial\/","title":{"rendered":"Nnamdi Kanu Faults Terrorism Trial"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">By Lizzy Chirkpi<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Detained leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, on Monday, declined to open his defence in the terrorism trial brought against him by the Federal Government, insisting there is no valid charge to answer.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">At the resumed hearing before Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court in Abuja, Kanu told the court that after reviewing his case file, he became convinced that the charges against him were invalid and that the entire process amounted to an unlawful trial.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cI have carefully gone through the case file, and I discovered that there is no valid charge against me,\u201d Kanu said, stressing that it would therefore be unnecessary to mount any defence.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The IPOB leader had earlier dismissed his legal team, led by Chief Kanu Agabi (SAN), and informed the court of his decision to personally conduct his defence. He had also applied for witness summons to enable him to call witnesses.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Justice Omotosho had, on October 24, adjourned the matter to October 27 for the defendant to open his defence. However, with Kanu\u2019s latest stance, the court directed him to file a written address outlining his position and to serve the prosecution counsel, Chief Adegboyega Awomolo (SAN).<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In response, Justice Omotosho advised the defendant to seek expert legal counsel on the implications of his decision not to proceed with his defence.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The court thereafter adjourned the matter to November 4, 5, and 6 for the adoption of final written addresses either on the basis that the evidence so far led by the prosecution failed to establish a case, or for Kanu to enter his defence if he chooses to do so.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Nnamdi Kanu, who has been in the custody of the Department of State Services (DSS) since June 2021, is standing trial on terrorism-related charges filed against him by the Federal Government. He was initially arrested in 2015 over his agitation for the secession of the South-East region through IPOB, which was later declared a terrorist organisation by the government.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Kanu, who was granted bail in 2017, fled the country after a military raid on his residence in Abia State. He was later re-arrested and brought back to Nigeria in 2021 under controversial circumstances. Since then, he has faced multiple counts bordering on treasonable felony, incitement, and terrorism.<\/div>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Related Posts generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Lizzy Chirkpi Detained leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, on Monday, declined to open his defence in the terrorism trial brought against him&hellip;<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Related Posts generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":100832,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-123312","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Nnamdi Kanu Faults Terrorism Trial - Pointblank News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/nnamdi-kanu-faults-terrorism-trial\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Nnamdi Kanu Faults Terrorism Trial - Pointblank News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Lizzy Chirkpi Detained leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, on Monday, declined to open his defence in the terrorism trial brought against him&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/nnamdi-kanu-faults-terrorism-trial\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Pointblank News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-10-27T16:15:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Nnamdi-Kanu-.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"750\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"420\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Our Reporter\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Our Reporter\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/nnamdi-kanu-faults-terrorism-trial\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/nnamdi-kanu-faults-terrorism-trial\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Our Reporter\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/ba61acbe7e8967bcf3f3ba603d9db23c\"},\"headline\":\"Nnamdi Kanu Faults Terrorism Trial\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-10-27T16:15:29+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/nnamdi-kanu-faults-terrorism-trial\/\"},\"wordCount\":383,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/nnamdi-kanu-faults-terrorism-trial\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Nnamdi-Kanu-.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/nnamdi-kanu-faults-terrorism-trial\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/nnamdi-kanu-faults-terrorism-trial\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/nnamdi-kanu-faults-terrorism-trial\/\",\"name\":\"Nnamdi Kanu Faults Terrorism Trial - Pointblank News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/nnamdi-kanu-faults-terrorism-trial\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/nnamdi-kanu-faults-terrorism-trial\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Nnamdi-Kanu-.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-10-27T16:15:29+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/ba61acbe7e8967bcf3f3ba603d9db23c\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/nnamdi-kanu-faults-terrorism-trial\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/nnamdi-kanu-faults-terrorism-trial\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/nnamdi-kanu-faults-terrorism-trial\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Nnamdi-Kanu-.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Nnamdi-Kanu-.jpg\",\"width\":750,\"height\":420},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/nnamdi-kanu-faults-terrorism-trial\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Nnamdi Kanu Faults Terrorism Trial\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/\",\"name\":\"Pointblank News\",\"description\":\"Just the news\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/ba61acbe7e8967bcf3f3ba603d9db23c\",\"name\":\"Our Reporter\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/83b3820ef93d502ae3a617b2c881ca42?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/83b3820ef93d502ae3a617b2c881ca42?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Our Reporter\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/author\/admin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Nnamdi Kanu Faults Terrorism Trial - Pointblank News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/nnamdi-kanu-faults-terrorism-trial\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Nnamdi Kanu Faults Terrorism Trial - Pointblank News","og_description":"By Lizzy Chirkpi Detained leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, on Monday, declined to open his defence in the terrorism trial brought against him&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/nnamdi-kanu-faults-terrorism-trial\/","og_site_name":"Pointblank News","article_published_time":"2025-10-27T16:15:29+00:00","og_image":[{"width":750,"height":420,"url":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Nnamdi-Kanu-.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Our Reporter","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Our Reporter","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/nnamdi-kanu-faults-terrorism-trial\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/nnamdi-kanu-faults-terrorism-trial\/"},"author":{"name":"Our Reporter","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/ba61acbe7e8967bcf3f3ba603d9db23c"},"headline":"Nnamdi Kanu Faults Terrorism Trial","datePublished":"2025-10-27T16:15:29+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/nnamdi-kanu-faults-terrorism-trial\/"},"wordCount":383,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/nnamdi-kanu-faults-terrorism-trial\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Nnamdi-Kanu-.jpg","articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/nnamdi-kanu-faults-terrorism-trial\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/nnamdi-kanu-faults-terrorism-trial\/","url":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/nnamdi-kanu-faults-terrorism-trial\/","name":"Nnamdi Kanu Faults Terrorism Trial - Pointblank News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/nnamdi-kanu-faults-terrorism-trial\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/nnamdi-kanu-faults-terrorism-trial\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Nnamdi-Kanu-.jpg","datePublished":"2025-10-27T16:15:29+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/ba61acbe7e8967bcf3f3ba603d9db23c"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/nnamdi-kanu-faults-terrorism-trial\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/nnamdi-kanu-faults-terrorism-trial\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/nnamdi-kanu-faults-terrorism-trial\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Nnamdi-Kanu-.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Nnamdi-Kanu-.jpg","width":750,"height":420},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/nnamdi-kanu-faults-terrorism-trial\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Nnamdi Kanu Faults Terrorism Trial"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#website","url":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/","name":"Pointblank News","description":"Just the news","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/ba61acbe7e8967bcf3f3ba603d9db23c","name":"Our Reporter","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/83b3820ef93d502ae3a617b2c881ca42?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/83b3820ef93d502ae3a617b2c881ca42?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Our Reporter"},"url":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123312","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=123312"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123312\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":123313,"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123312\/revisions\/123313"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/100832"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=123312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=123312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=123312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}