Nnamdi Kanu: Nigeria’s judiciary at war with own laws – Defence team
The defence team of leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Nnandi Kanu, has warned that the Abuja Federal High Court judgment which convicted the agitator should not be allowed to set a precedent in Nigeria’s legal system.
A member of the defence team, Barrister Njoku Jude Njoku, made the assertion in a statement on Wednesday, stating that the judgment has demonstrated that “Nigeria’s judiciary is at war with its own laws”.
Kanu was convicted for terrorism, and sentenced to life imprisonment by the court presided by Justice James Omotosho on November 20, 2025.
However, Kanu’s defence team have been picking holes in the verdict. In the statement made available to journalists in Umuahia on Wednesday, Njoku, who spoke on behalf of the Mazi Nnandi Kanu Global Defence Consortium, said the manner of Kanu’s conviction shows there is something wrong in Nigeria’s judicial system.
Kanu and his defence team had argued that the Terrorism Prevention Amendment Act 2013, under which he was charged, had been repealed by the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition Act) 2022.
Njoku faulted the judge for convicting Kanu with what he described as a “repealed law”.
The statement said, “There are moments in every nation’s legal history when a single court ruling forces the country to confront an uncomfortable question. Are we a nation governed by laws, or by the moods and improvisations of those who interpret them?
“Justice Binta Nyako’s court produced one such moment in 2017. Now, Justice Omotosho of the Federal High Court has produced another. At the center of this legal storm is one man, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, and one disturbing judicial choice – to insist on conducting a criminal trial under a repealed law.
“In any country that claims to operate under the rule of law, this would not even be a debate. The Terrorism (Prevention) (Amendment) Act 2013 was repealed by the Terrorism Prevention and Prohibition Act 2022. It is a matter of record.
