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Nnamdi Kanu’s conviction can’t stand, court has no jurisdiction – Human rights lawyer
A human rights lawyer and public rights advocate, Barrister Christopher Chidera, has declared that the conviction of leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu, cannot stand as it violated provisions of Nigeria’s Constitution.
Chidera, a member of the Mazi Nnamdi Kanu Global Defence Consortium, in a statement on Monday, insisted that the Constitution is Nigeria’s supreme law and cannot be treated as a suggestion.
Ekwutosblog reports that reactions have continued to trail Kanu’s conviction on terrorism charges filed against him by the Nigerian government. The IPOB leader was sentenced to life imprisonment and has now been moved to Sokoto Prison to serve the prison.
In the statement titled, ‘The Nnamdi Kanu judgment is a legal nullity built on repealed and non-existent laws’, the rights lawyer insisted that a court cannot invent jurisdiction over an offence that does not exist in any statute.
Arguing that Kanu was convicted with a law that do not exist, the statement said, “The world must hear this clearly and without distortion: Nigeria cannot claim to be a constitutional democracy while its courts attempt to convict a citizen under laws that do not exist. This is not advocacy. This is not interpretation. This is not politics. This is the plain truth of the law.”
Faulting the judgment, he noted that counts 1–6 of the charge were anchored on a repealed law.
“The prosecution built Counts 1–6 on the Terrorism Prevention (Amendment) Act 2013 — a statute that has been repealed and is no longer part of Nigeria’s criminal law. Section 36(12) of the Constitution is unequivocal: “A person shall not be convicted of a criminal offence unless that offence is defined in a written law in force at the time.”
“A repealed law is not a “written law in force”. A conviction under a repealed law is void. There is no exception. There is no judicial creativity that can cure repeal.
“Count 7 Is based on a non-existent statute. Count 7 claims reliance on the so-called “Criminal Code Act Cap C45.”
There is no such Act in Nigeria’s statute book. It is a legal ghost — a fiction. The Supreme Court of Nigeria itself held that Count 7 was defective and ordered it to be corrected. Neither the prosecution nor the trial court complied. A court cannot invent jurisdiction over an offence that does not exist in any statute. A judge cannot rewrite Nigeria’s laws from the bench.”
The human rights lawyer further noted that the Abuja Federal High Court presided by Justice James Omotosho disobeyed an order of the Supreme Court.
“The Supreme Court gave a clear directive – correct Count 7. The order was ignored. In any constitutional democracy, a lower court cannot sit in open defiance of the highest court.
This is not just procedural failure — it is a direct assault on the rule of law.
“The court refused to take judicial notice of repeal. Section 122 of the Evidence Act makes repeal of public statutes a matter for mandatory judicial notice. Repeated requests to the trial court to take notice were refused. A judge who refuses to acknowledge the very existence of the laws he swore to uphold has abandoned the judicial oath he took under the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution.”
Chidera, in the same vein, asserted that “any post-trial attempt to “rewrite” the charges is fraud”.
He added, “If, after the fact, anyone attempts to smuggle in a new statute,
to change the situs of the alleged offence, or to “interpret” the charge into existence, that will not be law — it will be fraud. Charges cannot be amended by written address. Situs cannot be invented by affidavit. A conviction cannot rest on a law that was never read to the accused.”
Further condemning the verdict, Chidera argued that what he described as “judgment day confusion” exposed the collapse of the case.
“How can a man be tried under one set of laws and then convicted under a different set of laws that were never put before him? Even more astonishing, Count 7 was then tied to CEMA, another statute both misapplied and statute-barred, with a limitation period of five years long expired — and with the accused having already spent more than that period in unlawful detention. This is not jurisprudence. This is confusion multiplied by illegality.”
According to him, the inescapable conclusion of the matter is that the court lacked jurisdiction in four independent ways – repealed enabling statute for counts 1–6; non-existent statute for count 7; Supreme Court order disobeyed; mandatory judicial notice refused.
“In law, when jurisdiction collapses, everything else collapses with it. Nothing stands,” he declared.
Demanding Kanu’s immediate release, the rights lawyer said, “Mazi Nnamdi Kanu cannot be lawfully convicted on repealed laws, non-existent laws, or laws secretly substituted on judgment day. His continued detention is unconstitutional. He must be released immediately and unconditionally.
“To convict a citizen under laws that do not exist is not merely a miscarriage of justice — it is the death of legality. Nigeria is better than this. Our Constitution demands better than this.
And history will remember who stood for the law, and who stood against it.”
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, on Thursday, swore in General Christopher Gwabin Musa (rtd) as Minister of Defence at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
General Musa’s appointment follows the resignation of Alhaji Mohammed Badaru Abubakar on Monday, December 1, 2025. His nomination was announced the following day and transmitted to the Senate, where it received expedited screening and confirmation.
Born in Sokoto in 1967, General Musa was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant into the Nigerian Army in 1991 and had a distinguished military career. He was appointed Chief of Defence Staff by President Tinubu in 2023 and retired in October 2025.
As Chief of Defence Staff, he championed inter-service security collaboration.
With his swearing-in, the new Defence Minister is expected to immediately assume duties as the Tinubu administration seeks to consolidate recent security gains and fast-track reforms aimed at achieving lasting peace and stability nationwide.
Senate President Godswill Akpabio, Senate Leader Opeyemi Bamidele, Chairman, Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters, Sen. Adeniyi Adegbonmire, the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, and the National Security Adviser, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, attended the swearing-in ceremony.
Also in attendance were the spouse of the new Minister, Mrs Lilian Oghogho Musa; Chief of Defense Staff, General Olufemi Oluyede; Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Sokoto, Matthew Hassan Kukah; and Justice Kumai Bayang Akaahs (rtd).
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has said it has appealed the judgment of the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, which ordered the release of twenty-seven houses to James Ibechukwu Okoye and his company.
In the Notice of Appeal filed at the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal, the Commission expressed dissatisfaction with the decision of the trial court, which was delivered on October 31, 2025.
EFCC counsel, Abba Mohammed, SAN, sought two orders from the Court of Appeal, which include; Staying the execution of the judgment of the trial court pending the hearing and determination of the appeal; and such further or other orders as the court may deem fit to make in the circumstances.
Meanwhile, the Commission said it felt obliged to correct the distortions and misrepresentations contained in a news story titled “EFCC Invades Abuja Property Despite Court Order Restraining Agency, Awarding N20 million To Jona Brothers”.
It explained in a statement on X that the Abuja property, Plot 680-689 Cadastral Zone B06, Mabushi, Abuja, referenced in the report, is a subject of criminal charge before Justice A.I Kutigi of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, High Court .
However, the EFCC said it sought and secured an order of interim forfeiture of the property before Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja pending the determination of the criminal charge before Justice Kutigi.
“In granting the order, the court authorized the EFCC to ‘appoint competent persons/ firm to manage the assets/properties listed in the schedule therein, temporarily forfeited to the Federal Government pending the conclusion of investigation and determination of criminal charges against the suspect,’”
“It is also important to point out that the criminal charge struck out by Justice Osho Adebiyi and the N20m cost she awarded is not in any way connected to the interim order.
“In addition, the enforcement of the interim forfeiture order of the property by the Commission is without prejudice to ongoing appeals on court pronouncements about the true ownership of the property. The appeals are ongoing and the EFCC is diligently attending proceedings.”
The Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN, Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun has reaffirmed the commitment of the country’s judiciary to protection of human rights as enshrined in the 1999 Constitution and other international laws and treaties.
She emphasized that the judiciary remains steadfast in its constitutional mandate to uphold the rule of law and protect the rights of citizens.
The CJN spoke on Thursday at the conference on ‘Proportional Force and Respect for Human Dignity: A Dialogue in Governance’, organized by the National Human Rights Commission, NHRC, in collaboration with Citizen FM.
The Administrator of the National Judicial Institute, NJI, Justice Babatunde Adeniran Adejumo, represented the Chief Justice of Nigeria at the conference.
In the goodwill message, Justice Kekere-Ekun congratulated the National Human Rights Commission on its 30th anniversary and commended the organizers for holding the conference on International Human Rights Day.
She emphasized that when authority is exercised with restraint, discipline, and accountability, it strengthens public trust and reinforces the legitimacy of institutions.
The CJN reiterated the judiciary’s commitment to protecting human rights and providing remedies where they are infringed.
“Let me make it abundantly clear that the judiciary remains steadfast in its constitutional mandate to uphold the rule of law and protect the rights of citizens,” she said.
The CJN further commended the NHRC for promoting dialogue and awareness on critical human rights issues in Nigeria.
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