Stephen Ukandu, Umuahia
The family of the detained Leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPoB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, has accused the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) of aiding injustice through its silence over what it described as the “unlawful prosecution” of the separatist leader.
In an open letter signed by Prince Emmanuel Kanu, the family expressed shock that the umbrella body of legal practitioners has allegedly failed to challenge what it called the Federal Government’s violation of the Constitution in Kanu’s ongoing trial.
“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,” the letter stated.
The family accused the NBA of abandoning its responsibility to defend the rule of law, lamenting that the association has remained indifferent despite Kanu being tried “under a law that no longer exists.”
According to the letter, “The 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of law and protect the legal order, has stood by quietly while Mazi Nnamdi Kanu is being tried under a law that was repealed by the National Assembly, and whose use in any court violates Section 36(12) of the 1999 Constitution.”
The family argued that the controlling legislation for terrorism-related prosecutions is the Terrorism Prevention and Prohibition Act, 2022—not the repealed Terrorism (Prevention Amendment) Act, 2013 under which Kanu is being tried.
It stressed that Section 76(1)(d)(iii) of the 2022 Act requires double criminality—meaning that no Nigerian court has jurisdiction to try a defendant for an alleged offence committed in another country unless that country also classifies the act as a crime.
“Kenya has never accused, investigated, or charged Mazi Nnamdi Kanu with any crime. There is no double criminality, and therefore no jurisdiction. Without jurisdiction, a trial is impossible. This is basic law that any second-year law student understands, yet the NBA behaves as if the meaning is hidden or confusing,” the family said.
The letter further argued that a repealed law is “dead” and cannot sustain a criminal charge, citing Supreme Court decisions such as Okenwa v. Military Governor of Imo State, Akinyede v. The Appraiser, Uwaifo v. Attorney-General of Bendel State, and Aoko v. Fagbemi.
Some legal practitioners have attempted to rely on Section 98(3) of the 2022 Act (the savings clause), but the family insisted the provision does not apply because Kanu’s case before Justice Omotosho is a fresh trial. It added that no Act of the National Assembly can override the Constitution.
The family questioned the NBA’s silence: “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, not to stay silent for political comfort?”
It warned that the NBA’s failure to challenge alleged illegality in Kanu’s case sets a dangerous precedent, emboldens judicial misconduct, and leaves ordinary Nigerians vulnerable to abuses of the justice system.
“We call on the NBA to publicly acknowledge that no person in Nigeria can be tried under a repealed law; to affirm that double criminality is a mandatory condition for jurisdiction; and to call out judicial misconduct where courts ignore constitutional limits.”
“The rule of law in Nigeria is slowly dying, and the NBA’s silence is part of the reason,” the family insisted, adding that many Nigerians may be unlawfully detained under outdated or repealed laws due to the “docility of the NBA and the complicity of compromised judges.”
The family urged the association to “rediscover its conscience” and fulfil its constitutional duty, warning that if it fails to act, history will remember it as the body that “watched the Constitution being violated and chose to do nothing.”
