The Federal High Court in Abuja on Thursday sentenced Biafra agitator Nnamdi Kanu to life imprisonment for acts of terrorism.
Trial judge James Omotosho, who convicted Mr Kanu on all seven charges, said he ought to sentence the convict to death given the gravity of his offences and lack of remorse but for scriptural persuasion to be merciful.
Mr Omotosho said he drew on chapter 22, verse 23 of the book of Matthew in the Bible to commute Mr Kanu’s punishment to life imprisonment instead of death penalty. He therefore sentenced the convict to life imprisonment for counts 1, 4, 5 and 6, “instead of death sentence”.
He added, “With respect to count 3, he is sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment without fine. He is sentenced to five years’ imprisonment for count 7.”
He ordered that the sentences should run concurrently.
The judge also ruled that Mr Kanu should not be allowed to use digital devices and be kept in protective custody.
He ordered the forfeiture of the radio transmitter, which the prosecution said he smuggled into the country in 2015 to further his violent secessionist campaigns, to the federal government.
Mr Omotosho stressed throughout his five-hour-long judgement that the convict left the evidence presented by the prosecution uncontroverted by failing to enter defence in the case.
Mr Kanu’s conviction on Thursday drew parallels with the conviction of another controversial Biafra agitator, Simon Ekpa, by a Finnish court on 1 September. But Mr Ekpa received a lesser punishment of six years’ imprisonment.
Both men were convicted of using terrorism as a tool for campaigning for the independence of Nigeria’s Igbo-dominated South-east and parts of neighbouring regions as sovereign Biafra.
Through several online broadcasts, for years, they incited violence and issued death threats and ordered the killing of security personnel and their families, the destruction of police stations and other government facilities as well as foreign embassies.
Mr Omotosho noted on Thursday that Mr Kanu described himself as a freedom fighter, but that through the enforcement of his illegal stay-at-home order, arrogating the power of Nigeria’s president to himself, and his inciting online broadcasts, he brought deaths and destructions to the people of South-east for whom claimed to be fighting.
“He turned himself into a tyrant who can kill at will. The defendant cannot be allowed to remain in a sane human society,” the judge said.
He said the right to self-determination, to agitate for independence, is not a licence to cause anarchy.
Commenting on Mr Kanu’s conduct during trial, which dated back to 2015, Mr Omotosho said he noted Mr Kanu’s unruly behaviour since the start of the case to date, including during Thursday’s proceedings when he aggressively maintained that the court could not proceed to deliver the scheduled its judgement. The judge had to order the operatives of the State Security Service (SSS) to eject him from the courtroom for the rest of the hours -long proceedings.
He said from his review of the case file from inception in 2015, “there is no doubt, the convict has not acted well throughout this period. He caused a delay and then cried that he was being held unlawfully.”
The judge said the convict was full of arrogance, cocky, aggressive, unremorseful and unmindful of the consequences of his actions.
Mr Omotosho said despite the convict’s conduct, the court would not consider that in his sentencing.
“This court is only being merciful to him; the court has been reminded to sentence the convict to death,” the judge said, adding, “I must temper justice with mercy.”
“It is in this note that I would follow the admonishment of Jesus Christ,” adding that “death penalty globally is frowned upon.”
“I hereby sentence the convict to life imprisonment for Counts 1, 4, 5 and 6 instead of the death sentence. Life is sacred to God.
“With respect to count 3, he is thereby sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment.
“For count 7, he is sentenced to five years’ imprisonment with no option of fine.”
He said the sentence would run concurrently.
He added that the convict “has a tendency towards violence; it is based on this that he must be kept in a facility that is suitable for his custody.”
The judge also ordered that Mr Kanu must not be allowed access to any digital device being the tool he used to commit the offences for which he was convicted. If he must be given access, it must be under the watch of security agents and the guidance of the National Security Adviser, the judge said.
Given the number of people that were killed as a result of his actions, the judge said, the convict “deserves protective custody. I order that the convict be kept in protective custody in any custodial centre in the country.”
“The raido transmitter is forfeited to the Federal Government,” Mr Omotosho added.
