The Nigerian government announced in June 2021 that Mr Kanu was brought back to the country to face his trial through "collaborative efforts of Nigerian intelligence and Security Services."
A State Security Services (SSS) operative, on Wednesday, told the Federal High Court in Abuja that the secret police organisation was not involved in the June 2021 re-arrest of Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), in Kenya.
The operative testified as the second prosecution witness in the terrorism trial of Mr Kanu, who is facing trial over his separatist activities agitating for the secession of Nigeria's South-east states and parts of surrounding states as a sovereign Biafra republic.
Identified as BBB in line with the court's 29 April witness protection ruling, the witness was fielding questions during cross-examination by the defence on Wednesday, when the questioning veered to the operation that brought Mr Kanu back to Nigeria from Kenya in June 2021.
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Faced with a torrent of questions from Paul Erokoro, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) who is a leading member of the defence team, BBB said the SSS does not engage in foreign operations but only matters relating to internal security of the country.
"DSS (SSS) did not kidnap Kanu in Kenya. We are confined to Nigeria. We did not arrest Kanu in Kenya," BBB said, responding to questions regarding involvement of SSS in the Kenyan operation.
Mr Kanu's trial was stalled for years before his re-arrest in Kenya in June 2021.
The 57-year-old was first arrested and charged in 2015 over his secessionist campaigns.
He fled Nigeria in 2017, while on bail, after soldiers invaded his home in Afara-Ukwu, near Umuahia, Abia State, in the thick of confrontations between state forces and IPOB in 2017.
Shortly after fleeing Nigeria, the separatist, a dual Nigerian and British citizen, first emerged in Israel and later in the United Kingdom, where he continued his pro-Biafra agitation through social media platforms.
While he was away, the Nigerian government, with the backing of a court order, proscribed IPOB, revoked his bail and severed his trial from that of the rest of his co-defendants he was initially charged with.
The wave of violence in the South-east states and confrontations between pro-Biafra agitators and the military alongside other law enforcement agents intensified in the region during the period.
Bent on arresting Mr Kanu, the Nigerian government, in June 2021, tracked him down in Kenya, arrested and brought him back to Nigeria in what was regarded as an "extraordinary rendition".
Announcing Mr Kanu's repatriation to Nigeria, then-Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, said the separatist leader was arrested days earlier through "collaborative efforts of Nigerian intelligence and Security Services."
The proceedings against Mr Kanu resumed after his return to Nigeria, with the charges undergoing amendments to introduce terrorism in addition to existing treasonable felony counts.
His forcible return to Nigeria in June 2021 formed a Court of Appeal's October 2022 decision to dismiss the charges against him.
But in December 2015, the Supreme Court reversed the Court of Appeal's decision.
The court restored the charges and ordered Mr Kanu's trial to immediately resume at the Federal High Court.
The Supreme Court held that, contrary to the Court of Appeal's reasoning, there is no Nigerian law prohibiting the use of "illegally obtained evidence for the trial of a defendant."
Witness speaks further
Fielding further questions from the defence on Wednesday, BBB said, although he did not know whether Radio Biafra had stopped broadcasting, Mr Kanu confirmed being the founder of the station.
He said SSS was not influenced by politicians or political appointees, but that the agency is under the office of the National Security Adviser (NSA).
He said the service code of conduct requires operatives to always be neutral and objective.
SSS not involved, witness insists
He stressed that the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) does not supervise their work, but that his office can receive letters from any government agency, including the AGF office, for further investigation.
The witness maintained that SSS training requires obtaining information where necessary.
When asked if he was part of those who arrested Mr Kanu in Kenya, BBB responded in the negative.
When Mr Erokoro also put the question to him that the SSS was involved in how the defendant was apprehended in Kenya, the witness disagreed with the lawyer.
He said it was not part of his brief to ascertain Kanu's claim that he was kidnapped in Kenya.
He said he knew Nigeria went through colonial rule, but did not read anywhere where Nigerians who called for independence were labelled as terrorists.
On whether he had ever heard of Odimegwu Ojukwu, the witness said the late Mr Ojukwu was a member of the Nigerian Army, who later decided to wage war against Nigeria.
The late Mr Ojukwu symbolises the pro-Biafra struggle, which dates back to 1960s, when the agitation set off Nigeria's first and only civil war, to date.
BBB said Biafra has never been a recognised entity anywhere in Nigeria.
The witness said, although there was nothing wrong in people calling for change through peaceful means, Mr Kanu resorted to calling for violence and killings in his broadcasts on Radio Biafra.
When asked if he was aware that Kanu called Simon Ekpa to stop what he was doing, BBB said he was unaware.
Keyan operation illegal or not?
On whether he was aware that courts in the country had held that the arrest and detention of the defendant is illegal, the witness said he read about them online and in the newspapers.
Mr Erokoro then tendered three separate judgments given in favour of Mr Kanu by three courts.
Trial judge, James Omotosho, admitted the documents in evidence.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) observes that the first judgment was delivered on 19 January 2022 by the Umuahia Division of the Abia State High Court; the second, delivered on 26 October 2022 by the Federal High Court in Umuahia; and the third was delivered on 26 October 2023 by the Enugu State High Court.
In the judgments, the courts faulted Mr Kanu's arrest and detention and the invasion of his home in Abia State by some soldiers.
The witness, however, said the SSS was only involved in Mr Kanu's arrest in Lagos in 2015, after he called for the killing of security personnel.
When Mr Erokoro said Mr Kanu's call on his followers to kill security personnel who tried to kill them was a self-defence strategy, BBB said he was not aware of any law in Nigeria that allowed anybody to kill fellow human beings.
He also said that he was not aware that the Director General of the SSS called on Nigerians to engage in self-defence.
The witness said he was aware that former Defence Minister, Theophilus Danjuma, a retired general, former Chief of Army Staff and former Minister of Defence, had once claimed that security personnel were not neutral in the security challenges confronting the country.
Disagreement over adjournment
Mr Erokoro then suddenly sought an adjournment to continue the cross-examination at a later date.
In reaction to Mr Erokoro's request, prosecution lawyer, Adegboyega Awomolo, a SAN, raised an objection.
Mr Awomolo reminded the court of its previous decision to allocate sufficient time for the defence to conclude with the second prosecution between 21 and 22 May.
He wondered why Mr Erokoro suddenly became unwilling to continue with the witness.
Mr Erokoro, however, said he decided to ask for an adjournment because the defence plans to play some video recordings which were not immediately available in court.
Trial judge, Mr Omotosho, in his ruling, agreed with Mr Awomolo's observation that the court, on 14 May, chose to clear its schedule to enable the defence finish cross-examining BBB.
But the judge agreed to grant the adjournment, warning that the court would deem the defence to have closed its cross-examination of the witness at the end of the 22 May (Thursday) proceedings.
He subsequently adjourned the matter till Thursday for continuation of trial.
Alleged misrepresentation of court proceedings
Earlier when the matter was called, the lead defence lawyer, Kanu Agabi, a SAN, and the prosecution lawyer, Mr Awomolo expressed concerns about the conduct of a member of the defence team who they accused of misrepresenting court proceedings on his social media platforms.
Mr Agabi said he got a letter from the prosecution in which it expressed concerns about some publications by the defence lawyer.
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He then sought the court's opinions on the issue.
The judge pushed the issue back to Mr Agabi and sought his opinion.
Responding, Mr Agabi apologised, even though, he said, he knew nothing about the publications.
When asked to react, Mr Awomolo confirmed that he wrote a letter on 14 May, protesting the misrepresentations that were being published on social media.
Mr Awomolo said he learnt the court's proceedings on the case were being streamed live by some individuals, including lawyers.
The prosecution lawyer noted that the case is a very sensitive one that should not be trivialised, adding that "it is not fair to manipulate what happened in court in the public domain."
While still addressing the court, Mr Awomolo reached for his phone in a bid to draw the court's attention to what he said the lawyer did on social media.
He handed the phone to Mr Agabi, pointing to a recent post he said the lawyer made on his social media platform.
Mr Agabi collected the phone from Mr Awomolo and told the court that he had also read something about himself on the social media, misrepresenting happenings in the case.
Reacting, Justice Omotosho said the developments did not benefit both sides, adding "it will only delay proceedings."
According to the judge, we should not lay emphasis on what is happening on social media.
"Although one of our brothers has not been acting well. I have said it before, we should act professionally.
"Most of these things are acts of gross misconduct on which you could be disbarred.
"It is a misconduct. I don't want to mention any names. The person knows himself. Let us act well," Mr Omotosho, the judge, said.
Just at the previous proceedings on 14 May, a lawyer in the defence team, Aloy Ejimakor, was accused of misleadingly disclosing on social media that Mr Agabi and other defence lawyers were prevented from meeting with Mr Kanu in the SSS custody.
Mr Agabi, who brought up the issue, told the judge that the claim, which circulated online, was far from the truth.
(NAN)
