Nnamdi Kanu: Lawyer cautions against sensational reports

Media practitioners have been asked to focus on the reportage of the brilliant and fact-based and legal argument in the ongoing trial and court proceedings of the leader of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu. He cautioned journalists against sensational reports skewed toward distorting the facts just as he told them not to be […]

Media practitioners have been asked to focus on the reportage of the brilliant and fact-based and legal argument in the ongoing trial and court proceedings of the leader of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu.

He cautioned journalists against sensational reports skewed toward distorting the facts just as he told them not to be carried away by propaganda spewed by the government legal team.

He stated this while reacting to the deafening silence of the media toward the legal argument canvassed by Kanu’s lead counsel, Chief Kanu Agabi, SAN, in an open court at the resumed hearing of the case on Thursday in Abuja.

He challenged journalists for looking the other way and not reporting the questions raised by Agabi during the proceeding particularly on the whereabouts of the list of the over 170 security officers the government claimed to have been killed as a result of Mazi Kanu’s broadcasts.

“Who are the families of these alleged victims? Why have they not testified in court ? Which individual has claimed, under oath, that they heard Mazi Kanu and then committed violence as a result of his broadcasts?. Who issued the unsigned, unauthenticated death certificates the DSS tried to smuggle into evidence?. The statement queried?”

Agabi in his submission urged the prosecution to tender the forensic pathologist or investigator linking any death to IPOB or Mazi Kanu. He submitted that no victims had come forward to testify in court that their loved one was killed due to any violence by Nnamdi Kanu.

“Instead, the media gave uncritical oxygen to laughable claims that because Mazi Kanu said ‘the world will stand still’, Nigeria must imprison him. Since when did hyperbole become terrorism? If so, when will government officials who have made similar or worse threats be charged?

The lawyer appealed to the media not to give unnecessary oxygen and voice to the narratives aimed at misleading the public just to gain cheap popularity.

“We dare every media house in Nigeria to publish verbatim what Kanu Agabi SAN told the court today.We challenge you to report that all five prosecution witnesses were DSS agents.

“That none of them tendered direct evidence of violence caused by Mazi Kanu. That the “evidence” they submitted consisted of unsigned, unauthenticated documents.

“That no victim, no investigator, no family member, no forensic expert testified in support of the government’s claims. You claim to report facts. Then do it. Publish Agabi’s submission in full.

“We remind all Nigerians and the international community: well-scripted propaganda cannot replace facts, evidence, or the rule of law. The federal government’s case against Mazi Nnamdi Kanu is legally unsustainable, morally bankrupt, and politically vindictive” The statement added.