…Say It’s Fabrication To Demonise Kanu
U.S. based pro-Igbo advocacy organisations have rejected the claim that Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), plotted to bomb the United States and British missions in Nigeria, describing the allegation contained in Justice James Omotosho’s judgment as a “fabrication” intended to demonise him.
The position was made known during a joint press conference in the United States addressed by the President of the American Veterans of Igbo Descent (AVID), Dr. Sylvester Onyia; U.S.-based Catholic priest and Coordinator of Rising Sun, Rev. Fr. Augustine Odimmegwa; and the Executive Director of Ambassador for Self-Determination, Ben Nwankwo, in the text of the briefing made available to THE WHISTLER on Friday.
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In their statement titled “Justice Omotosho’s Fictional ‘Bomb Plot’ Against US and UK Missions: A Manufactured Lie That Collapses His Judgment Against Mazi Nnamdi Kanu,” the groups accused the judge of inserting into his judgment a narrative that never appeared in any of the court proceedings.
“We address you today on one central, shocking point in the judgment delivered by Justice James Omotosho against Mazi Nnamdi Kanu: The claim that Mazi Nnamdi Kanu planned to bomb the British and United States missions in Nigeria,” the coalition said.
“We state openly and without fear of contradiction: This allegation was never charged, never testified to, never tendered in evidence, and never mentioned by any witness in the entire trial.
“It is a pure invention of the judge, inserted into the judgment to demonise Mazi Nnamdi Kanu before the world and to drive a wedge between him and the governments of the United States and the United Kingdom,” they stated.
The groups insisted that throughout the proceedings before Justice Omotosho, nothing remotely connected to such an allegation was ever presented. “No charge alleged any plan to bomb US or UK embassies. No prosecution witness testified about any such plot. No document, exhibit, audio, video, or intelligence report was tendered to support such a claim,” they further stated.
“The defence had no opportunity to cross-examine any witness on this issue, because it never arose in court. Yet, in his judgment, Justice Omotosho casually wrote in this wild story of a supposed plan to bomb the British and American missions. This is not a mistake. It is a fabrication.”
To reinforce their claim, the groups announced plans to release the full certified transcripts of the court’s proceedings. “Those transcripts will show clearly that no prosecutor, no witness, and no document ever mentioned any threat to US or UK missions; the only people who testified against Mazi Nnamdi Kanu were hired storytellers, and even they did not tell this particular story,” they said.
“The so-called ‘bomb plot’ exists only in the judgment, not in the evidence,” they asserted.
They invited Nigerian and international media, human rights organisations, diplomats, and the general public to review the transcripts once released. “We invite Nigerian media, international press, diplomats, human rights organisations to read the record themselves and see how far a Federal High Court judge was prepared to go to justify a conviction without evidence.”
The groups argued that the claim was not only false but illogical, given Kanu’s known posture toward the United States and the West. “In 2017, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu organised the first and only Trump Solidarity Rally in Igweocha (Port Harcourt), where thousands peacefully marched in open support of the then-US President.
“In 2020, he personally attended a Trump campaign rally in Des Moines, Iowa, openly identifying with the American democratic process,” they said.
“These are not the actions of a man plotting to bomb US or UK missions. They are the actions of a man who, rightly or wrongly, sees the United States and the West as allies in the struggle for justice and self-determination.
“For a Nigerian judge to twist this history into a phantom ‘terror plot’ is not only dishonest; it is dangerous. It sends a message to the world that Nigerian courts are willing to weaponise lies against political defendants,” they stressed.
According to the coalition, the alleged fabrication fundamentally undermines the entire judgment. “A person can only be convicted on evidence given in court, the offence must be clearly written in a valid law, and the accused must have a fair chance to challenge any allegation,” they said.
The coalition observed that, “By importing a serious accusation that was never charged, was never proved, and was never put to the accused, Justice Omotosho violated Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s right to fair hearing; turned himself from an impartial judge into a prosecution witness and propagandist; and built his judgment on facts that do not exist in the record.”
They added that “once a judge bases a criminal conviction on fabricated, extraneous material, the entire judgment is poisoned. It is legally unsafe, morally bankrupt, and constitutionally void.”
“This single act of fabrication, ”they contended “is enough, on its own, to nullify the judgment, justify its reversal on appeal, and trigger serious disciplinary action by the National Judicial Council (NJC).”
The groups warned that the implications go beyond Kanu’s individual case asserting, “When a judge in a criminal trial descends into the arena of fabrication and lies, the judiciary itself is in trouble.
“This is no longer about one man, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu. It is about whether any Nigerian can trust that our courts will decide cases on evidence, not on scripts; judges will respect the record, not rewrite it; the bench will not be used as a tool to destroy political opponents,” they said.
“Justice Omotosho’s conduct sends the worst possible signal, both domestically and internationally. It tells the world that Nigeria’s courts can be used to manufacture ‘terrorists’ on paper while ignoring the actual evidence. We will not allow this to pass quietly,” the coalition argued.
They listed their next steps, saying they would immediately publish transcripts of the proceedings before “they falsify it,” file appropriate appeals challenging the judgment, petition the NJC for investigation, and engage directly with U.S. and U.K. authorities to expose what they described as a false narrative.
“The attempt to paint Mazi Nnamdi Kanu as a man who planned to bomb US and UK missions is a fallacy from the pit of propaganda, not from a court of law,” they said.
“It is a stain on the judgment. It is a stain on the court. And unless it is decisively rejected, it will remain a stain on the Nigerian judiciary.
“We are determined to expose this fabrication in a way Justice Omotosho never imagined possible — with documents, with transcripts, and with the cold, hard truth,” they insisted.