By Bimbo Adenrele
The Federal Government has told the Federal High Court in Abuja that the threat by the Biafra nation agitator, Nnamdi Kanu to break up the country and establish a Republic of Biafra was not a mere empty threat but a deliberate one.
Government said that the detained leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) made a broadcast on Biafra Radio station where he openly and publicly declared his intention to break up Nigeria.
Responding to a No Case application made by Kanu on Friday, the federal government lawyer, Chief Adegboyega Awomolo SAN said that the broadcast by Kanu caused Nigerians to Iive in great fears.
The senior lawyer told Justice James Omotosho to reject the claims of Kanu that he had no case to answer in the 7-count terrorism charges brought against by the federal government.
Awomolo argued that boasting to break up Nigeria is a fundamental security issue to the nation and as such, should not be considered as empty threat as claimed by Kanu.
The government lawyer informed the court that Kanu in the broadcast directed his followers to go after police men to kill them along with their families adding that over 170 security agents were killed shortly after the broadcast.
“The defendant made a broadcast. He proudly declared himself as IPOB leader even when he knew that IPOB had been proscribed. He made a broadcast that the world will come to standstill.
‘The law of Nigeria prohibits words capable of making Nigerians live in perpetual fears, threatening to bring Nigeria down. The aim is to create Biafra and not a mere boasting and there are consequences for such boasting.
Awomolo pleaded with the Judge to reject the no case argument of Kanu and order him to enter his defense in the charges against him adding that the no case application was a misplaced and misconceived one.
However, Kanu through his lead counsel, Chief Kanu Agabi SAN had faulted the prosecution of his client in the charges and asked the court to discharge and acquit him.
Among others, Agabi SAN said that throughout the proceedings, no single witness was called to tell the court how he was incited by Kanu to take to violence.
