Nigerian government has enlisted a Dutch, Mr. Ronald Stilting, Manager, Golden Tulip Airport Hotel, Lagos, among the eight prosecution witnesses that are to testify against the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra and founder of Radio Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, and two others when their trial for alleged treason and other ancillary offences begins next year.
Department of State Services operatives, on October 14, 2015, arrested Kanu at the Golden Tulip Airport Hotel, where he allegedly checked into, using a fictitious name.
The accused persons were scheduled for arraignment before a Federal High Court in Abuja, on December 23 but Kanu refused to take his plea to the six counts of treason and other charges instituted against him and his two co-defendants due to what he called his lack of confidence in the presiding judge, Justice Ahmed Mohammed.
The judge promptly returned the case file to the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice Ibrahim Auta, for reassignment to another judge and the three accused persons were returned to the custody of the DSS.
Nigerian government, through the Federal Director of Public Prosecutions, Mr. Mohammed Diri, alleged in the summary of its case in the newly filed six counts that the IPOB leader checked into the hotel, using the name, Ezebuiro Nwannekaenyi, in order to conceal his identity.
Diri stated this in a document listing the proposed prosecution witnesses lined up to testify against Kanu and the two others.
According to federal DPP, “Stilting is the Manager of Golden Tulip Hotel, Lagos.
“He will give evidence as to how the 1st defendant checked into Golden Tulip Hotel, Airport, Lagos.”
The DPP stated that Kanu, a citizen of both Nigeria and Britain, had as his name on the Nigerian passport, Nwannekaenyi Nnamdi Ngozichukwu Okwukanu, while his British passport bore Nnamdi Kenny Okwukanu.