Justice James Omotosho has dismissed the allegations of coercion made by the leader of the indigenous people of Biafra Nnamdi Kanu against the Department of State Services (DSS).
Justice Omotosho ruled that Kanu did not establish involuntariness in any way throughout his testimony.
The footage shown in court demonstrated that the statement was given in a pleasant environment with no signs of duress.
However, this court cannot ignore the fact that the kanu repeatedly complained about his counsel’s absence.
Section 15 of ACJA provides that where a suspect is arrested without a warrant, his statement must be obtained in the presence of his counsel, and where a counsel is not available, it will be in the presence of an officer of the legal aid council of Nigeria or a member of the civil society etc.
The essence of recording the statement in the video is to prove that the statement was voluntarily obtained in the presence of counsel.
He said that security agencies must comply with the provisions of the law by recording a suspect’s statement in the presence of his counsel.
Also, section 32 of the constitution provides that any accused person is entitled to legal representation.
Even though the statement was recorded in video, the fact that the lawyer of the defendant was not available makes the statement inadmissible in evidence.
This court is empowered to also expunge the video recordings which had been admitted in evidence.
“Having established that the statement is inadmissible, it holds to the law that the video recordings are also not admissible”
“I hereby order as follows:
1. The statement of the defendant dated 21-24 October and November 4 2015 are inadmissible in evidence
2.
2. The video recordings of the statement are also declared inadmissible and hereby marked rejected.”
After the ruling Justice Omotosho singled out Favour Kanu, Nnamdi Kanu’s sister-in-law.
He proceeded to ban her from ever coming to the trial and also barred from accessing the court premises unless she has a matter in court.
Justice Omotosho said henceforth he would be sending people to Kuje Prison for contempt in the face of the court.
