The Federal High Court in Abuja has summoned a former Governor of Abia State, Orji Kalu, to appear on November 14, 2018, to testify on the whereabouts of the missing leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mr. Nnamdi Kanu.
The request to summon the former governor to appear in court was filed by Kanu’s lawyer, Mr. Ifeanyi Ejiofor.
The subpoena, which bore the Federal High Court’s stamp and dated October 11, 2018, was signed by the “judge” and a copy of the subpoena was made available to journalists by Ejiofor on Friday.
The matter is before Justice Binta Nyako.
It read, “You are commanded in the name of the President and Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to attend before this court on the 14th day of November, 2018, at 9 o’clock in the forenoon, … to give evidence on behalf of the defendant, with regards to your knowledge on the whereabouts of the defendant.
“As contained in your interview granted the press/media on 18th September, 2018, after your visit to the former Head of State, General Ibrahim Babangida, retd, in Minna, and the interview was widely reported both in print and online media.”
Ejiofor said in a statement that Kalu was being summoned because of his recent “outburst” about Kanu’s whereabouts.
He said, “Following the recent outburst by Dr Orji Uzor Kalu, wherein he announced to the world during a private visit to the former Head of State’s residence (Ibrahim Babangida) that he knows the whereabouts of my client (Nnamdi Kanu), and obvious misleading political points scored vide the said unguarded expression, we have formally caused the Federal High Court seized of the substantive matter to subpoena Orji Uzor Kalu to appear before His Lordship Hon. Justice B. M Nyako on the 14th day of November 2018 to give account of what he knows about the whereabouts of my client (Nnamdi Kanu).”
Kanu was being prosecuted on charges of treasonable felony alongside some alleged IPOB members before he went missing in 2017, after soldiers invaded his home in Afara-Ukwu, Abia State, during the ‘Operation Python Dance’ by the military to quell the agitation for the realisation of Biafra Republic in the South-East in September 2017.
While Kanu’s lawyer had continuously insisted that the IPOB leader was in military’s custody, Kalu had reportedly said he (Kanu) had escaped to the United Kingdom after the military operation.
This informed the Kanu’s legal team to have the former governor summoned to testify on what he knows about the IPOB leader’s whereabouts.
