‘Scripted Judgment’: Nnamdi Kanu’s Wife Blasts Justice Omotosho, Accuses Him of Violating Constitution

• Uchechi Okwu-Kanu has rejected the life sentence handed to her husband, alleging that Justice James Omotosho read a “script” and failed to follow constitutional requirements in the terrorism trial.

Uchechi Okwu-Kanu, wife of Nnamdi Kanu, the convicted leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), has reacted strongly to the life sentence delivered against her husband on Thursday by the Federal High Court.

Kanu’s wife insisted that no judge can compel a defendant facing terrorism-related charges to open a defence without first reading out the written law guiding the trial. She argued that this constitutional step was ignored.

Uchechi further alleged that the judge simply read out “a script handed over to him” while sentencing her husband to life imprisonment, claiming he “could barely read out some of the words in his own very written judgment.”

Reports confirmed that the Federal High Court in Abuja handed Kanu a life sentence after Justice James Omotosho delivered his ruling. The court earlier convicted the IPOB leader on all seven terrorism counts brought against him by the Department of State Services.

In his judgment, Justice Omotosho held that the prosecution presented credible evidence and noted that Kanu declined to enter a defence, instead resting his case on the prosecution’s submissions.

However, Uchechi described the entire process as unconstitutional, saying:
“In Nigeria, a judge cannot ask a defendant to open a defense on terrorism related charges without reading out the written law under which the court is trying that person… The constitution… provides that a person shall not be convicted of a criminal offense unless the offense is defined and the penalty prescribed as in a written law.”

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She argued that:
“So what Omotosho has done today is a script, a written script for him to read out. Everyone could hear him. Everyone could see that he was reading a script handed over to him and that he could barely read out some of the words in his own very written judgment.”

Uchechi accused the judge of ignoring key constitutional safeguards:
“I’ve had to quickly tweet and… post the travesty of justice today regarding how Omotosho ignored the Constitution’s requirement that none can be convicted under an unwritten or unknown offense.”

She also claimed the judge attempted to force Kanu to take a plea under a repealed law:
“He forced Mazi Nnamdi Kanu to take a plea under a repealed law, which Mazi Nnamdi Kanu refused. So show me where it is written before I can enter into a defense. And that never happened.”

Uchechi added that Justice Omotosho “refused, blatantly, flagrantly, to issue written rulings on serious applications,” yet proceeded to read lengthy counts that she described as “nonsense.”

According to her, the judge even blocked Kanu’s right to file a final address:
“You cannot ask me to put my final address, put it down, write it down, and then you block it… It is his right to put a final address down, to write it down. But Omotosho blocked that and decided to read out those nonsense he called counts.”