Uchechi Okwu-Kanu, Nnamdi Kanu’s wife, sharply criticised Justice James Omotosho after his husband received a life sentence. She attacked how Omotosho handled the terrorism trial, arguing he asked Kanu to open a defence without reading the law.
She claimed the judge read from a scripted text during sentencing, raising doubts about the judgment’s authenticity. Moreover, she alleged that he could barely articulate some parts of his written judgment. “He read a script handed to him,” she said, and she challenged the judge’s competence.
She insisted the court violated Section 36 of Nigeria’s Constitution by trying her husband under an “unwritten or unknown offence.” She added that Omotosho forced Kanu to enter a plea under a repealed law, which Kanu had never accepted.
Furthermore, she accused the judge of refusing to issue written rulings on key applications, instead asking Kanu to bundle all objections into a final address. She said the judge blocked that final address, then read aloud counts she called “nonsense.”
The court convicted Kanu on all seven terrorism-related counts, including incitement, membership in a proscribed organisation, and unlawful radio broadcasts. Justice Omotosho said prosecutors presented credible evidence, and he rejected Kanu’s decision to rest without entering a defence.
He opted for life imprisonment, rather than death, citing mercy. He also barred Kanu from accessing digital devices and ordered his radio transmitter forfeited to the government. Legal experts have raised concerns about fairness in the trial, and now Kanu’s wife has made a public challenge. In the wake of her scathing remarks, calls are growing for greater transparency in the judiciary.
