Nigeria prosecuting Kanu under a dead law - AVID * Seeks US, UN intervention

Nigeria prosecuting Kanu under a dead law – AVID

* Seeks US, UN intervention

By Steve Oko

The American Veterans of Igbo Descent (AVID), has expresses totally condemned the continuing trial of the Leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPoB, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, saying he is being prosecuted under “a dead law”.

Describing Kanu’s trial as “judicial travesty”, AVID, in a statement by its President, Dr Sylvester Onyia, urged the Federal Government to discontinue with the trial for lack of legality, arguing that “a trial without law is a trial without legitimacy”.

Citing Nigeria’s 1999 Constitution (as amended), AVID said:”This is clear under Section 36(12) – no person shall be tried for any criminal offence unless that offence and its penalty are defined in a written law.

“This is a non negotiable constitutional safeguard, a cornerstone of due process, and a measure of any civilized nation’s commitment to Justice.

“Yet, before the world and under Justice Omotosho’s watch, the Nigerian state persists in trying Maz: Nnamdi Kanu under a dead law — the Terrorism (Prevention) (Amendment) Act, 2013 — which ceased to exist upon the enactment of the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022 Justice Omotosho, contrary to the mandatory duty of judicial notice under Section 122(2)(a) of the Evidence Act, has refused to acknowledge this repeal. This 1s not a mere oversight; it 1s a judicial dereliction of constitutional duty.”

AVID also argued that when “jurisdiction is in question, justice must wait”.

The statement made available to Wawa News Global further read:”Justice Omotosho’s posture of “wait till judgment” on questions of jurisdiction, is double jeopardy, and validity of charge is the opposite of established precedents of the Supreme Court of Nigeria. Jurisdictional defects strike at the root of a case and must be determined forthwith, not deferred. No court, no matter how highly placed, can arrogate to itself jurisdiction it does not possess

“The Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022, specifically Section 76(1)(d)(i11), demands that for any alleged terrorism committed abroad, such act must equally constitute an offence in the jurisdiction of the alleged occurrence — 1n this case, Kenya, where Mazi Kanu was abducted This double criminality requirement has not been met, yet the judge insists on proceeding, thus nullifying the moral and legal foundation of the entire trial.”

AVID expressed worry over the silence of legal bodies in the face of obvious abuses of court processes and disrespect to the rule of law in Kanu’s trial.

“It is appalling that in the face of such manifest constitutional infidelity, Nigeria’s legal institutions — the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), the National Judicial Council (NJC), and so-called legal analysts — have chosen cowardly silence. A nation whose lawyers fear to ask, “Under what law is this man being tried?” has surrendered its conscience to tyranny.

“From the denial of access to lawyers and family in DSS custody, to the judicial disregard of documentary evidence before the court, every element of fair hearing — as guaranteed under Section 36(1) of the Constitution — has been destroyed in Justice Omotosho’s court.

The Courage of One Man Against a Nation of Silence:

“When Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, in court, asked for a five minute recess in the judge’s chambers to prevent the judiciary’s embarrassment, he was rebuffed. When he raised the profound constitutional question: Under what law am I being tried? Justsce Omotosho retorted, “Wait till judgment.”

“That a sitting Federal High Court judge can preside over a criminal trial without identifying a subsisting law is the ultimate indictment of Nigera’s judicial decay.”

AVID called on the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC); the U S. Department of State; the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights; and the International Criminal Court (ICC), “to closely monitor and document the ongoing judicial abuses in Nigeria.”

“The trial of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, in its present form, is not just a constitutional aberration but an affront to international human rights standards on fair trial and rule of law.”, the group declared.

Challenging Nigeria to choose between Law and Lawlessness, AVID urged Justice Omotosho to write his name in gold by upholding the rule of law.

According to AVID, the court should not be “a place where a man is asked to defend himself against a non-existent law; where judicial notice is optional, and where constitutional provisions are treated as irritants. This is not justice; it is judicial tyranny.

“If Nigeria still claims to be a constitutional democracy, it must immediately halt this charade, restore the rule of law, and release Mazi Nnamdi Kanu unconditionally”, the statement concluded.