The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, says he will only appear as a witness in the trial of Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), if he is formally summoned by the court.
Wike stated this during a media parley in Abuja on Friday, stressing that his mere mention in newspaper reports does not make him a witness in the case.
“You don’t become a witness by reading the newspaper. Nobody has served me any process; nobody has subpoenaed me,” he said.
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“So, because I saw Wike listed, I will not begin to run helter-skelter. No, you don’t do that. If I am served, if I am subpoenaed to come and give evidence, I must obey the court; I must appear.”
When asked why Kanu listed him as one of his witnesses, Wike said he had no idea.
“If you see Nnamdi Kanu, you ask him, ‘Why did you list me?’ I did not go and say I want to be a witness,” he added.
Kanu, who is facing terrorism charges at the Federal High Court in Abuja, had listed Wike among several prominent Nigerians as “compellable witnesses” in his ongoing trial.
Others named include a former Minister of Defence, Gen. Theophilus Danjuma (rtd); a former Chief of Army Staff, Gen. Tukur Buratai (rtd); Governors Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State and Hope Uzodinma of Imo State; the Minister of Works, Dave Umahi; and former Abia State governor, Okezie Ikpeazu.
