The detained leader of the outlawed Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB), made a dramatic turn on Tuesday by agreeing to enter his own defence. This development comes hours after Omoyele Sowore, the African Action Congress (AAC) presidential candidate in the 2023 general elections, led protests in parts of Abuja demanding Kanu’s release.

The detained IPOB leader had last Thursday filed a motion of preliminary objection challenging the jurisdiction of the court to continue with his trial. He filed the objection the same day a team of medical experts enpanelled by the court to determine his health status, turned in a report that he was medically fit to stand trial. In a fresh motion he personally filed on Tuesday, October 21, Kanu assured the court that he was prepared to begin his defence “pursuant to the order of this honourable court made on the 16th day of October 2015, directing the defendant to commence his defence on the 24th day of October 2025.”

He told the court that he would “testify on his own behalf, providing a sworn account of the facts, denying the allegations, and explaining the political context of his statements and actions.” Among those Kanu listed as “compellable witnesses” are a former Minister of Defence, Gen. Theophilus Danjuma (rtd), a former Chief of Army Staff, Gen Tukur Buratai (rtd), as well as Babajide Sanwo-Olu and Hope Uzodinma, Governors of Lagos and Imo States respectively. He further listed current Minister of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), Nyesom Nwike, his Works’ counterpart, Dave Umahi, and the immediate past governor of Abia State, Okezie Ikpeazu.

He also listed the immediate past Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN, the immediate past Director General of the National Intelligence Agency, NIA, Ahmed Rufai Abubakar, his then-collegue at the State Security Service, SSS, Yusuf Magaji Bichi, and several witnesses whose identities he didn’t reveal.

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