A witness of the Federal Government on Friday, admitted before Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court in Abuja, that no weapon of terrorism or violence was recovered from Nnamdi Kanu, when he was arrest on October 15, 2015 in Lagos.
The witness, who is an operative of the Department of the State Services (DSS) and code named PWAAA, also admitted it found nothing dangerous with the lady arrested along with Kanu, nearly 10 years ago.
He made the disclosure under cross-examination by Kanu’s lawyer, Chief Kanu Agabi (SAN).
The Biafra nation agitator has been on trial for nearly 10 years since he was first arrested for alleged treasonable felony and terrorism charges.
He pleaded not guilty and has been in custody of the DSS since his re-arrest and subsequent extradition from Kenya.
His trial since 2015 has gone back and forth and even up to the apex court, which had ordered him to respond to the remaining seven-count charge against him after the Federal High Court quashed eight out of the 15-count charge initially filed against him in 2021 after his repatriation.
His trial has also gone through the hands of several judges at the Federal High Court with Justice Omotosho being the fourth to handle the matter.
The judge had at the last proceeding adjourned to May 2, for Kanu to begin cross-examination of the PW1, who ended his testimony last month and also tendered all the items recovered from the defendant in 2015 when he was first arrested.
During cross-examination, the witness, who told the court that all the items recovered were personal properties of the Biafra nation agitator, however said that the recovered items may not be ordinarily offensive but the intention of the defendant may be something else.
When asked of his assessment of the recovered items, PWAAA stated that he did not analyse any of the items because his mandate was to effect arrest and obtain statement from Kanu.
Meanwhile, the witness admitted analyzing the cell phone of the defendant, adding that the report of the analysis was not made available to the court because it is immaterial.
In the 10 years that the items were impounded, he admitted the properties may have lost their value and became of no use.
He further explained that he did not bring anybody before Kanu to confront him on any issue of terrorism.
The witness also admitted that Kanu’s statement was obtained without the presence of his lawyer and that statements were not obtained from other persons.
He admitted not knowing any person put on trial by the Federal Government on account of agitation from Biafra nation actualization.
He however recalled that another Biafra agitator, Simon Ekpa, who was recently arrested outside the country, would soon be brought for trial.
The witness said that he read in the newspapers and social media those backing the defendant in the agitation.
He said that he did not remember Kanu complaining of corruption in high places, unemployment among youths and tendering apologies to the president for insults hauled on him and negative remarks against Igbo leaders.
The witness further said that he could not remember when Kanu described IPOB as a voluntary organization that was not involved in carrying arms against the nation.
He admitted that there were killings in some part of the country especially in the north but that government has been doing its best to stem the tide of the killings.
The witness also said he would not know whether the killings were as a result of self determination or agitation.
Some of the items recovered from Kanu and admitted as exhibits include; 1 black laptop, 2 multi mix transmitters, 1 mini white Apple iPad with pouch, 1 grey Apple iPad with pouch, 1 grey MacBook with pouch, 1 grey MacBook with case, 1 mini drone sound wave speaker, 2 mini white speakers, 1 large computer mouse, 1 white adaptor, 1 laptop adaptor and 1 carton bag with laptop
Others are two 3G modems, 2 Glo modems,
1 Glo Hawaii modem, 1 MTN modem, 1 Etisalat modem, 1 flash drive, 1 Camcorder,
1 hand recorder in a black pouch, 1 MacBook Pro adaptor, 1 Mic stand, 1 Phillips headphone, 1 radio Sharp mic with cord, 1 Pro sound mic with cord, 1 4G LTE modem, a bunch of cards, 1 power adaptor for mixer,
1 Easy Blaze white modem, 1 Samsung phone,1 Black Motorola phone and1 Nokia phone.
Also found on him are 1 Black Samsung phone, 1 Black phone, 1 D-Link black modem, 1 8GB flash drive, 1 extension wire adaptor,
1 pair of shoes, 1 belt, 1 pair of cedarwood sneakers and1 footwear.
Other items are 1 black Softech wristwatch,
2 singlets, 1 sealed Hermes perfume, 1 trinket, 1 Pokham perfume, 1 Fredrick Peckham wristwatch, 1 Diesel wristwatch,
1 Alexander Christy collection wristwatch,
1 Club wristwatch and 10 items altogether.
The last set are 3 bank MasterCards, copies of documents, 1 Copy of IPOB complementary card, documents tagged IPOB, 1 white clipper, 1 bottle of medicine, 1 Oman perfume, 2 mini scented oils, 1 empty black purse, 1 Nigerian passport bearing the names Okwu Kanu Nwannekaibeya Nnamdi Ngozichukwu and1 British passport bearing the name Okwu Kanu Nwannekaibeya, 1 black purse, 1 passport holder, 1 card holder, 1 box of Rocarden wristwatch and 4 bundles of cords.
Meanwhile, Justice Omotosho has fixed May 6th, 7th and 8th for continuation of cross-examination based on the agreement of lawyers.
THISDAY
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