Igbo groups have slammed Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court Abuja, over claims in his judgment, that the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, had planned to bomb American Embassy and British mission in Abuja.
The groups including American Veterans of Igbo Decent, AVID; Ambassadors for Self Determination and the Rising Sun, dismissed the claims as a fictitious fabrication by the Judge to demonise Kanu and pitch him against the US Government.
They expressed shock that the Judge could make such claims in his judgment whereas no charge against Kanu or witness ever mentioned anything like that.
A joint statement by the groups said:”The claim that Mazi Nnamdi Kanu planned to bomb the British and United States missions in Nigeria is fictitious.
It further read:”This allegation was never charged, never testified to, never tendered in evidence, and never mentioned by any witness in the entire trial.
“It is a pure invention of the judge, inserted into the judgment to demonise Mazi Nnamdi Kanu before the world and to drive a wedge between him and the governments of the United States and the United Kingdom.
” No witness ever spoke any bombing plot throughout the proceedings before Justice Omotosho.
“No charge alleged any plan to bomb US or UK embassies. No prosecution witness testified about any such plot.
No document, exhibit, audio, video, or intelligence report was tendered to support such a claim.
“The defence had no opportunity to cross-examine any witness on this issue, because it never arose in court.
Yet, in his judgment, Justice Omotosho casually wrote in this wild story of a supposed plan to bomb the British and American missions. This is not a mistake. It is a fabrication.
“In any criminal justice system worthy of the name, a judge cannot convict an accused person on the basis of stories invented in chambers and not proven in court.
According to them, it defies every logic that Kanu could plan to bomb US embassy while IPOB led by him organised a solidarity rally for President Donald Trump in 2017, in Port Harcourt.
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“This invented ‘bomb plot’ is not only unsupported, it is absurd on its face.
“In 2017, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu organised the first and only Trump Solidarity Rally in Igweocha (Port Harcourt), where thousands peacefully marched in open support of the then-US President.
In 2020, he personally attended a Trump campaign rally in Des Moines, Iowa, openly identifying with the American democratic process.
“These are not the actions of a man plotting to bomb US or UK missions.
They are the actions of a man who, rightly or wrongly, sees the United States and the West as allies in the struggle for justice and self-determination.
“For a Nigerian judge to twist this history into a phantom “terror plot” is not only dishonest; it is dangerous. It sends a message to the world that Nigerian courts are willing to weaponise lies against political defendants.”
The groups said Justice Omotosho had destroyed his verdict against Kanu by fabricating and inserting an idea not raised against him during the prosecution
They argued that “a person can only be convicted on evidence given in court,”, adding that “the offence must be clearly written in a valid law, and the accused must have a fair chance to challenge any allegation”.
“By importing a serious accusation that:Was never charged, never proved, and was never put to the accused, Justice Omotosho violated Kanu’s right to fair hearing”, the statement read.
” Omotosho turned himself from an impartial judge into a prosecution witness and propagandist; and built his judgment on facts that do not exist in the record.”
The groups said that “once a judge bases a criminal conviction on fabricated, extraneous material, the entire judgment is poisoned.
It is legally unsafe, morally bankrupt, and constitutionally void.”
The groups vowed to petition the National Judicial Council, NJC and relevant bodies, asking them to investigate how such a grave falsehood found its way into a Federal High Court judgment.
They also vowed “drect engagement with US and UK authorities, providing them with the record of proceedings to show that this alleged “bomb plot” exists only in Justice Omotosho’s imagination.”