A prosecution witness, on Wednesday, tendered in evidence at a hearing of the terrorism charges against Nnamdi Kanu a copy of the death certificate of Ahmed Gulak, a former presidential adviser murdered in 2021 by the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
Gulak, who served as Special Adviser on Political Affairs to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan up to 2015, was shot dead in Owerri, the Imo State capital, during a visit to the state in May 2021.
The Nigerian government blamed the killing on IPOB which has been notorious of series of deadly attacks and killings under the guise of imposing its stay-at-home order in the South-east region. The order was issued by Kanu, the IPOB leader, as part of his group’s broader secessionist movement.
Kanu is standing trial before the Federal High Court in Abuja on terrorism and treasonable felony charges arising from his campaign for the secession of the South East from Nigeria.
Death certificate
On Wednesday, the prosecution team presented its second witness, identified by the codename BBB in line with the court’s earlier witness protection ruling, to prove its case against Kanu.
The witness, who testified behind a shield hiding him from the view of the court audience, tendered a certified true copy of the death certificate for Gulak to back the prosecution’s case.
Led by the prosecution lawyer, Adegboyega Awomolo, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), the witness maintained on Wednesday that the sit-at-home directive which Kanu ordered in a radio broadcast to be enforced throughout the South-east states led to Gulak’s killing.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the witness confirmed to trial judge James Omotosho that he participated in the investigations into Gulak’s death.
Fielding other questions from the prosecution lawyer, the witness said he had with him in the courtroom a copy of Gulak’s death certificate obtained from the police. According to him, the death certificate was dated 18 July 2021.
When the prosecution opted to tender the document in evidence, defence lawyer, Kanu Agabi, a SAN and former Attorney-General of the Federation, said he had no objection. The judge then admitted the document and marked it Exhibit PWJ.
Under the direction of the prosecution lawyer, the witness read the content of the death certificate.
His reading indicated it was from the Nigerian police, Owerri, Imo State, and about the death of Gulak.
The document, from the reading by the witness, stated that Gulak was shot dead by gunmen belonging to IPOB in 2021.
After the prosecution finished with the witness, Mr Agabi began cross-examining him.
Gulak, a former Speaker of Adamawa State House of Assembly, and later presidential adviser, was shot dead on Saturday, 29 May 2021, in Owerri, the Imo state capital on his way to the airport for his return to Abuja.
He was the chairman of the committee which conducted the 2019 APC governorship primary in Imo State that produced the incumbent Governor, Hope Uzodinma, as the party’s candidate.
Owerri, with a large concentration of IPOB members and supporters, has been the epicentre of the killings of several security operatives, including soldiers.
Gulak’s killing happened at the height of IPOB’s enforcement of a stay-at-home directive on Mondays in the South-east at the time.
In June 2021, weeks after Gulak was killed, the Nigerian government arrested Kanu in Kenya, about three years after he jumped bail.
Mr Kanu, a dual citizen of Nigeria and the United Kingdom, was brought back to Nigeria to continue his stalled trial that started in 2015.
(NAN)
