The lawyer of pro-Biafra activist Nnamdi Kanu has told Newsweek that the Nigerian government has no witnesses to bring against his client as Kanu’s counsel seeks to overturn a ruling that witnesses in the trial could be anonymized.
Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), is facing six counts of treasonable felony — that carries a maximum life sentence in Nigeria — but denies the charges. A British-Nigerian dual national, Kanu, who is also the director of underground station Radio Biafra, was arrested in Lagos in October 2015 and has been held in detention since then.
The Federal High Court in the Nigerian capital Abuja ruled on March 7 that witnesses in the case, which has garnered significant attention in Nigeria, should be allowed to testify from behind a screen in order to protect their identities. The decision came despite a previous ruling by Judge John Tsoho on February 19 that witnesses could not wear masks while testifying.
