This
is coming amid moves by the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra,
IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu, to halt the scheduled November 20, 2025 judgment in
his terrorism trial.
A legal expert, Christopher Chidera has stated that Nnamdi Kanu,
leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra can't be tried on a repealed
law.
This is as he faulted Kanu's terrorism trial.
This is coming amid moves by the leader of the Indigenous People of
Biafra, IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu, to halt the scheduled November 20, 2025
judgment in his terrorism trial.
Justice James Omotosho of the Abuja Federal High Court fixed the
date to deliver judgment in the trial, which has lasted several years.
Kanu and his defence team have been arguing that the Terrorism
Prevention Amendment Act 2013 under which he was charged had been
repealed by the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition Act) 2022.
In a press relaese, on Wednesday, Christopher Chidera, a member of
the Mazi Nnamdi Kanu Global Defence Consortium, argued that it was wrong
to prosecute Kanu under a repealed law and as a result, he can’t be
convicted based on a non-existent statute.
“Not one Nigerian court, from the Supreme Court to the High
Court, has ever sustained a trial or conviction under a repealed
statute. Every known attempt was quashed as a nullity,” Chidera stressed.
He argued that “there can be no conviction without a written law in force at trial”, and
faulted the court for proceeding with the IPOB leader’s prosecution
despite what he described as glaring evidence that the law under which
he was charged had been repealed.
Noting that the presiding judge, Justice James Omotosho, failed to
provide an answer when Kanu asked why he is being prosecuted under a
non-existent law, the lawyer declared, “Today, that question is answered, definitively, constitutionally, and jurisprudentially.
There is no single instance in Nigeria since 1999 where a
criminal trial, conviction, or plea was sustained under a repealed law.
None exists. None can exist. A repealed criminal statute dies ab initio.
It cannot sustain a trial, conviction, or plea unless explicitly saved
by the repealing Act and even then, only for truly ‘pending’
proceedings.”
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He further argued that statutes such as the Terrorism (Prevention
and Prohibition) Act cannot override provisions of Section 36(12) of the
1999 Constitution, which forbid conviction for any offence not “defined and in force” at the time of trial.
“Under Section 122 of the Evidence Act, courts must judicially
notice repeals. Failure to do so is not mere error, it is a fraud on the
Constitution,” Chidera asserted.
The Nnamdi Kanu defence team further observed that a sweeping
search of Nigerian and global legal records shows no instances where a
repealed law sustained a criminal trial, conviction, or plea.
Citing the case of Abacha v. State (2002) 11 NWLR (Pt. 779) 437, the lawyer averred, “Repeal extinguishes offences; savings cannot breathe life into what is already dead.”
Also citing FRN v. Osahon (2006) 5 NWLR (Pt. 973) 361, he insisted, “No prosecution survives repeal; general savings cannot revive repealed offences. Charges are struck out; accused discharged.”
Stressing that “offence not defined by extant law is unconstitutional,” he added,
“In every case, repeal ended proceedings. Courts discharged accused
persons, struck out charges, or voided convictions. No trial proceeded
to a valid conclusion under a repealed law, not once.
“No person shall be convicted of a criminal offence unless that
offence is defined and the penalty prescribed in a written law in force
at the time of trial. Once repealed, the law is no longer in force, any
charge under it collapses ab initio.”
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Arguing that Section 6(1)(a) of the Interpretation Act cannot
override the Constitution, the lawyer noted that by the provisions of
Section 122 of the Evidence Act, courts must recognize repeals
automatically.
In the same vein, he noted that ignorance of repeal voids jurisdiction, adding, “Records
of proceedings show that till date Justice Omotosho is yet to take
judicial notice of the repeal of the Terrorism Prevention Amendment Act
2013. A fatal error in law.”
According to him, when an appellate court orders retrial after
repeal, the new trial is a fresh proceeding, not a continuation, as the
repealed law cannot revive the charge.
“Mazi Nnamdi Kanu stands charged under the Terrorism
(Prevention) Act 2011 (as amended 2013) a law repealed by the TPPA 2022.
The repeal took effect May 2022. The fresh arraignment and de novo
trial commenced December 2023. Therefore, at the time of trial, the
repealed statute was not in force. By constitutional compulsion: Dead
law = Dead case. The trial is a nullity.
Any plea or conviction thereunder is void ab initio,” Chidera added.
Insisting that the court cannot convict Kanu, the lawyer declared, “Repeal
kills prosecution totally, instantly, and irrevocably. To proceed under
a repealed statute is to conduct a trial without law, an act forbidden
by Section 36(12) and condemned by precedent.”
OR
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