The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, says he will only appear as a witness in the ongoing trial of the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, if he is officially summoned by the court.
Speaking during a media parley with journalists in Abuja on Friday, Wike clarified that he had not received any formal notice to testify and would not act based on reports circulating in the press.
"You don’t become a witness by reading the newspaper. Nobody has served me any process; nobody has subpoenaed me.
"So, because I saw Wike listed, I will now begin to run helter-skelter. No, you don’t do that. If I am served, if I am subpoenaed to come and give a witness or give evidence, I must obey the court; I must appear," he said.
Wike, a former Governor of Rivers State, was responding to reports that his name had been included among those listed as potential witnesses by Kanu in his fresh motion before the Federal High Court in Abuja.
When asked why the IPOB leader might have included him in the witness list, 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.' So, if you see him, ask him, 'Why did you list Wike as one of your witnesses?'," he remarked, declining to comment on whether Kanu’s continued detention required a political resolution.
Earlier in the week, Kanu filed a new motion identifying 23 individuals he intends to call as witnesses in his terrorism trial.
The motion, filed on October 21, 2025, and marked FHC/ABJ/CR/383/2015, was addressed to Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court, Abuja.
In the document, which Kanu personally signed, he stated that the list complied with a court directive ordering him to open his defence on October 24.
The witnesses were divided into two categories, voluntary but material witnesses, and compellable witnesses to be subpoenaed under Section 232 of the Evidence Act, 2011.
Among those listed were former Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami; former Minister of Defence, Gen Theophilus Danjuma (rtd); former Chief of Army Staff, Gen Tukur Buratai (rtd); and the Governors of Lagos and Imo States, Babajide Sanwo-Olu and Hope Uzodinma.
Others include the Minister of Works, Dave Umahi; former Abia State Governor, Okezie Ikpeazu; and Wike himself.
The motion also lists international and domestic experts such as United States (US) constitutional lawyer Bruce Fein, who will testify on the legality of Kanu’s rendition from Kenya, and Prof Martin Aghaji, Kanu’s physician, who is expected to speak on his health condition in detention.
Kanu, who has been in custody since his extradition from Kenya in June 2021, recently dismissed his legal team and opted to represent himself as he begins his defence in the long-running terrorism case.
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