Ifeanyi Ejiofor, a former lead counsel to the leader of the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, has blamed the IPOB leader’s conviction on the legal team’s alleged lack of strategy and mishandling of the defence.
In a statement on Saturday, Mr Ejiofor, who led Mr Kanu’s legal team from 2015 until his withdrawal from the case in 2023, accused individuals who took over from him of what he termed “amateur legal showmanship” and “social-media theatrics.”
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The former lead counsel said he was compelled to speak in response to an “avalanche of calls and messages” from Nigerians who asked him to weigh in on the conviction of the IPOB leader.
The lawyer noted that his team, before their disengagement from the case, secured “landmark victories” between 2015 and 2023, including the 2022 court of appeal judgement, which discharged and acquitted Mr Kanu.
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“Sustained pressure, strategic diplomacy, and airtight legal manoeuvring had placed us on the verge of another monumental breakthrough,” he said.
He added that he and Mike Ozekhome, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, who stepped in to lead the team in 2022, were “on the threshold of securing yet another major relief” for Mr Kanu at the time, but that the legal progress was derailed after Mr Kanu “innocently” shared “sensitive details” with some “clueless clowns” who persuaded the IPOB leader to alter the defence structure.
“Rather than support a strategy they (the legal team) barely understood, they seized the information as an opportunity to derail the entire process and treacherously orchestrated a change in the status quo.
“Consequently, we exited the team gloriously, and with our integrity intact,” the former counsel said.
‘From criminal trial to parody of legal representation’
Mr Ejiofor contended that Mr Kanu’s legal team mishandled his defence, stressing that, unlike before, the team approached such an “internationally sensitive criminal trial” as “a circus ring.”
“But once these bloated, delusional entertainers-in-wigs inserted themselves into the process, everything degenerated into a grotesque parody of legal representation.
“Instead of crafting a legal strategy, they crafted Instagram stories. Instead of mastering case law, they mastered camera angles.
“At every court session, their priority wasn’t research or preparation, it was posing, filming, updating, grandstanding, and ‘going viral,’” he said.
“Meanwhile, the accused man’s fate hung by a thread.”
Kanu’s conviction was avoidable; defending himself was an error
Mr Ejiofor expressed surprise that, despite the court’s warning against it, members of the legal team, later converted into consultants, supported Mr Kanu to defend himself in a criminal matter.
“They (the legal team) railroaded him (Kanu), knowingly or unknowingly, into the savage pit of a full criminal trial, fully aware that other lawful avenues existed.
“And so the unthinkable happened: A conviction that could have been prevented; an outcome that was entirely avoidable, yet allowed to proceed under the guidance of legal lightweights intoxicated by social-media relevance,” he said.
The lawyer faulted the disengagement of the former legal team “at such a critical moment of trial” despite the team comprising “foremost legal minds, globally respected Senior Advocates of Nigeria” and “men fully versed in the anatomy of high-wire criminal litigation.”
Way forward
Mr Ejiofor said that the first task for any legal expert to rescue the situation would be to “clean up the monumental damage” caused by the legal team.
“A comprehensive review of methodology, effective engagement, and drastically reduced publicity must precede any intervention.
“Only then can a coherent, sophisticated legal and political strategy be fashioned,” he stated.
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Life imprisonment
On Thursday, Mr Kanu was convicted by a Federal High Court in Abuja after being found guilty on all seven counts filed against him by the Nigerian government.
Justice James Omotosho consequently sentenced him to life imprisonment for terrorism and ordered that he be prevented from having access to mobile devices and broadcast equipment except under the watch of security operatives.
His former special counsel, Aloy Ejimakor, has indicated that the IPOB leader would appeal the judgement.
Mr Ejimakor, on Friday, announced that Mr Kanu had been moved from the SSS facility to a prison facility in Sokoto State.
Favour Dozie, the SSS spokesperson, did not respond to enquiries from PREMIUM TIMES seeking her comments for the story.
