Prosecutors said the killing was one of a series of fatal attacks related to the IPOB under home governance imposed on the southeastern region by a group led by Kanu.
Prosecutor’s witnesses presented evidence on Wednesday at a hearing of terrorist accusations against Biafra (IPOB) leader Nnamdi Kanu, a copy of the death certificate of a former presidential adviser who was killed by a banned group in 2021.
Gulak, who served as a special advisor to former President Goodluck Jonathan until 2015, was shot and killed in Owerri, the capital of IMO, while visiting the state in May 2021.
The Nigerian government has condemned the killing of IPOB, a banned probiafra organisation. However, the group denied any involvement in the murders at the time.
According to the government, Gulak’s murder was one of a series of fatal attacks related to the IPOB under the home governance imposed on the southeastern region by Kanu as part of his group’s wider separatist movement.
Kanu is trialing in the Federal High Court in Abuja on federal charges of immortality arising from his campaign to break away from the Republic of Biafra, made up of Igbo-controlled Southeastern states and neighbouring countries in Nigeria.
Death certificate
On Wednesday, the prosecutor’s team presented a second witness identified by the codename BBB in line with the court’s previous witness protection ruling to prove the case against Kanu.
The witness, who testified behind the shield, hiding him from the views of the court audience, bid for a certified, genuine copy of Mr. Gulak’s death certificate in support of the prosecutor’s case.
Leaded by prosecutor’s attorney, Nigeria (SAN), Adegboyega Awomolo, senior advocate, witnesses on Wednesday claimed that a stay-at-home order that Kanu ordered to be enforced on radio broadcasts across the Southeast state led to the murder of Gulak.
The Nigeria News Agency (NAN) reports that witnesses have confirmed to Judge James Omotosho that they have participated in an investigation into Gulak’s death.
Submitting other questions from the prosecutor’s attorney, the witness said he had a copy of Mr. Gulak’s death certificate, which he had obtained from the police in court with him. According to him, his death certificate was dated July 18, 2021.
When the prosecutor chose to bid the documents with evidence, defense attorney Kanu Agabi said he was San and former Attorney General, but he said he had no objection. The judge then recognized the document and marked the PWJ.
Under the direction of a prosecutor’s attorney, the witness read the contents of the death certificate.
His readings showed that it was about the deaths of Nigerian police, Owerri, Imo state and Mr. Gulak.
The document stated that in 2021 Gulak was shot dead by Hoodlums, a member of the IPOB, from reading by eyewitnesses.
After the prosecution finished his witness, Agabi began cross-examining him.
Gulak served as president of the then-president of the Jonathan administration, as a member of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), which flew into the All-Progressive Congress (APC) in 2018, nearly three years after the former party lost power.
The politician, former chairman of the Adamawa State Legislature, was shot dead by several gunmen on Saturday, May 29, 2021 while visiting Owerri, Imo State.
Mr. Gulak was shot on his way from Imo to Abuja.
He was the chairman of the committee that conducted the 2019 APC Governorship Primary for IMO State, which hopes to be incumbent governor Uzodimma as a party candidate.
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Owerri is concentrated largely on IPOB members and supporters, and was the epicenter of the conflict between security agencies and the IPOB in the southeast region.
Several security operatives, including soldiers, were killed in fatal attacks in the city.
Gulak’s murder occurred at the height of the IPOB’s enforcement of a stay-at-home order on Monday. The IPOB denied that its members had killed a politician.
In June 2021, weeks after Gulak was murdered, the Nigerian government arrested Kanu in Kenya about three years after fleeing Nigeria after an invasion of his home while releasing bail at his Abia state home.
Kanu, a double citizen of Nigeria and the UK, has been returned to Nigeria to continue the stagnant trial that began in 2015.
