Ifeanyi Ejiofor, former lead counsel to Nnamdi Kanu, has accused the lawyers representing the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) leader of mishandling his defense and turning the high-profile trial into a “legal circus.” On Thursday, a federal high court in Abuja sentenced the IPOB leader to life imprisonment.
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In a statement on Saturday, Ejiofor said he was compelled to speak after receiving an “avalanche of calls” from supporters expressing concern over developments surrounding Kanu’s case. He said his team secured “landmark victories” between 2015 and 2023, including the 2022 Court of Appeal judgment, which discharged and acquitted Kanu.
He said the legal progress made at the time was derailed after Kanu allegedly shared sensitive information with “clueless clowns” who persuaded him to alter the defense structure. According to him, the decision led to the exit of his legal team, including that of Mike Ozekhome, Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), who assumed leadership in 2022—explaining why Ejiofor and his colleagues became Kanu’s ex-counsel.
He said the new “legal actors reduced an internationally sensitive trial into a parody of legal representation.” “A high-profile, internationally sensitive criminal trial is not a circus ring,” he said. “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 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. Meanwhile, the accused man’s fate hung by a thread.”
He said the development contributed to an “avoidable outcome,” including a trial and conviction that “could have been prevented.” Ejiofor said misinformation shared online by the new team repeatedly contradicted courtroom proceedings. He said the contradictions provided openings for the prosecution, and questioned how senior lawyers such as Kanu Agabi and Onyechi Ikpeazu were sidelined “at the most critical moment of the trial.” He said the matter was “hijacked by mediocre adventurers intoxicated by social media relevance.”
Ejiofor said the situation requires a reset anchored on competence, sobriety, and reduced publicity. He said globally respected legal experts can only intervene after a “comprehensive clean-up” of what he described as “monumental damage.”
On Friday, Uchechi Okwu-Kanu, wife of Kanu, criticised her husband’s legal consultants for failing to brief her on his transfer to Sokoto Prison. Aloy Ejimakor, counsel to Kanu, earlier announced that the IPOB leader had been transferred to a correctional centre in Sokoto following his conviction.
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