Speak out on Kanu’s Controversial Trial, Defend Rule of Law, Constitution, Family Tells NBA

Emmanuel Ugwu-Nwogo in Enugu


The family of the leader of proscribed Indigenous People Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, has challenged the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) to speak out and take a stance on the controversial trial of the IPOB leader based on an already repealed law.

The Kanu Okwu family of Afaraukwu Umuahia in Abia State stated that the ominous silence of the Bar is helping “an unlawful court case” against Kanu thereby encouraging travesty of justice and desecration of the constitution.

Kanu is standing trial in a Federal High Court Abuja on alleged terrorism charges. He has refused to enter defence before Justice James Omotosho on the ground that the law on which his trial is anchored does not exist having been repealed.

His family in an open letter addressed to the professional body of lawyers in Nigeria signed by the spokesman Prince Emmanuel Okwu Kanu, called out the NBA, urging it to make its stand on Kanu’s trial known to the public.

“The hard truth is that the NBA has failed in its duty, and its silence in the face of clear constitutional violations has allowed an unlawful and fake court case against Mazi Nnamdi Kanu to continue,” he said.

Prince Kanu explained that the Okwu-Kanu family decided to speak to the NBA “directly and truthfully, without sugarcoating or politeness that hides the painful reality” because the Bar is the guardian of the law  and defender of justice.

“Throughout this period, the NBA has spoken no word, taken no action, and made no attempt to educate the public or correct the dangerous misunderstanding surrounding this trial.”

The family regretted that NBA, “a body created to defend the rule of law and protect the legal order, has stood by quietly while Mazi Nnamdi Kanu is being tried under a law that no longer exists, a law that was repealed by the National Assembly.”

Referencing the repealed Terrorism (Prevention Amendment) Act 2013, on which the ongoing trial of Kanu is anchored entirely, the family spokesman pointed out that that very law had ceased to exist when the 2022 Act came into effect.

He stated that the application of the repealed law in any trial in any court violates Section 36(12) of the 1999 Constitution hence the NBA was morally bound to have said something on this travesty of justice.

“This is not neutrality; it is aiding injustice by doing nothing. The controlling law for terrorism-related prosecutions in Nigeria today is the Terrorism Prevention and Prohibition Act 2022, not a repealed law.

“That law makes it clear in Section 76(1)(d)(iii) that no Nigerian court can try a person for an offence allegedly committed in another country unless that foreign country also regards the alleged act as a crime.”

Kanu’s extraordinary rendition took place in Kenya, a country in East Africa, and as noted by Prince Emmanuel, “Kenya has never accused, investigated, or charged Mazi Nnamdi Kanu with any crime of any kind.”

He further said, “In simple language, this means there is no double criminality and therefore no jurisdiction, and without jurisdiction a trial is impossible,” he said, adding that “this is basic law” which the NBA should not make to appear complicated by keeping quiet.

“The Constitution is very clear in Section 36(12) that no person may be tried for any criminal offence unless the law defining the offence is written and in force at the time of trial. A repealed law is not in force and cannot be used to charge anyone.

“This is not our personal opinion; it is the binding position of the Supreme Court in cases such as Okenwa v. Military Governor of Imo State, Akinyede v. The Appraiser, Uwaifo v. Attorney-General of Bendel State, and Aoko v. Fagbemi.”

The Okwu-Kanu spokesman said that the cited cases “all affirm that a repealed criminal law is dead, wiped away, and cannot legally support a prosecution. Yet the NBA has acted as if these decisions do not exist, or as if the Constitution has suddenly become optional.”

He pointed out the futility of hiding behind Section 98(3) of the 2022 Act, the so-called savings clause, as “even that argument fails because the trial before Justice Omotosho is a completely fresh trial and cannot be “saved” by a clause meant to preserve proceedings that were already ongoing”.

“Besides, no clause in any Act can override the Constitution, and Section 36(12) cannot be defeated by legislative wording. The Constitution sits above every other law, and when any law conflicts with it, the Constitution prevails.”

The Okwu-Kanu family raised the following posers: “why is the NBA refusing to say what is clearly true? Has the NBA become afraid of the government? Has it lost the courage to speak? Has it forgotten that its first duty is to defend the Constitution?”

The distraught family reminded NBA that its silence has real consequences beyond Mazi Nnamdi Kanu (because) when the Bar refuses to challenge obvious illegality in a public case, it normalises abuses, empowers judges who ignore clear legal limits.”

It also “leaves ordinary Nigerians helpless, and sends a message to the world that Nigerian lawyers no longer understand or defend their own laws.”

The Okwu-Kanu family called on the NBA “to rediscover its conscience, rise to its duty, defend the Constitution, and stop pretending not to see what every informed Nigerian already knows.

“Silence helps the wrongdoing, ignorance deepens the danger, and cowardice is itself a betrayal of justice,” the family said.