Nnamdi Kanu, The Enigma Whose Legal SElf-Defense Against State Persecution Is A Game Changer

Nnamdi Kanu, The Enigma Whose Legal SElf-Defense Against State Persecution Is A Game Changer  It is now a widely circulated news, that the l...

Nnamdi Kanu, The Enigma Whose Legal SElf-Defense Against State Persecution Is A Game Changer 

It is now a widely circulated news, that the leader of the Indigenous People  of Biafra (IPOB) movement will recommence and appear before the newly assigned judge of the Federal High Court on 21st March, 2025. And, this was after the former presiding judge Binta Nyako was accused of prejudice and was forced to recuse herself.

Notwithstanding, the state-induced injudicious conspiracy to compel Mr Kanu to stand before the recused judge at the behest of the Federal Government was a move the defendant fought against so vehemently and forced the state to withdraw its nefarious agenda.

It is quite imperative to recall that Mazi Nnamdi Kanu is the leader of the Indigenous People Of Biafra (IPOB)  movement whose methodology to agitation is anchored and influenced by the philosophy of peaceful agitation and civil disobedience. 

However, since the IPOB movement which Kanu leads gained a profound relevance, the federal government of Nigeria has resorted to extrajudicial high-handedness and killings in order to quash the movement. As a result, this ill-concieved state agenda has led to the illegal assassination attempt on Nnamdi Kanu's life by the Nigerian security forces in 2017, a bloody attack that claimed the lives of 28 innocent unarmed civilians and Nnamdi Kanu's pet. Nnamdi Kanu was lucky enough, escaping the assassination attempt by scaling through the fence. He survived and then found his way for  safety and asylum out of Nigeria. However, the Federal Government was not so done in hunting for his life. They proceeded to illegally proscribe the IPOB movement which Nnamdi Kanu leads and then,  all hell broke loose. 

Nnamdi Kanu was later in 2021,  abducted by the Nigerian Government in Kenya. He was tortured for 8 days and then extraordinarily renditioned to Nigeria by the Nigerian secret police in conspiracy and collaboration with some lawless foreign intelligence agencies against all dictates of local Nigerian laws as well as international laws. It is important to emphasize that Kenya and Nigeria has no existing extradition treaty hence the arrest of Mr Kanu through due process is considered impossible in Kenya.

Having knowledge of the above, it is only plausible to allure, as the laws of state and international laws guarantees, that Mr Kanu is a victim of state persecution for exercising his political rights of freedom to seek self-determination. The Court of Appeal on 13th October 2022, entered a profound resolution ordering unconditional release of Mr. Nnamdi Kanu and compensation for the violation of his fundamental human rights by the federal government. A move the federal government disputed and swiftly moved to manipulate the Nigerian judiciary into playing in line with the rhythm it dictates onward. This has been going on till date and Mazi Nnamdi Kanu  has on all occasions proclaimed his innocence of all false accusations and charges levied against him. He vowed to continue proving his innocence but only if a fair trial is guaranteed through due process. 

It was on this basis that His Lordship, Justice Binta Murtala-Nyako was recused and forced to stand down by the defendant in line with dictates of the law. And even when the Federal Government insistently and unlawfully tried to compel her to preside over a case she stands recused from, Mr Kanu took to his defense and declined to patronize the conspiracy which in essence is against the provisions of the Nigerian laws.

So far, as the court case draws near, legal experts who have evaluated the nature of the case have concluded that the recommencement of the trial of Mr Kanu is in fact illegal, taunting the flawed argument of the prosecution which is anchored on  the Terrorism Prevention Act 2013 as being feeble and unlawful. 

Human rights lawyer, Barr. Christopher Chidera while evaluating the case said;

"Nigeria’s courts lack the substantive jurisdiction to try Kanu under a legal relic, and any attempt to do so constitutes a direct assault on his constitutional rights to a fair hearing and protection from retroactive punishment."

 Barr. Chidera continued that; “The prosecution’s feeble reliance on Section 98(3) of the TPPA 2022—claiming continuity of proceedings—collapses under scrutiny. A "de novo" trial is a fresh proceeding, not an extension of a defunct case."

"The government’s legal acrobatics cannot mask this fundamental truth: the procedural jurisdiction to prosecute Kanu under the 2013 Act evaporated with its repeal. To persist is to invite ridicule and condemnation from both Nigerian citizens and the international community."

While the world stands in expectation of the resumption of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu's trial as unlawful as it appears, it is indeed expected that Kanu as has initially pledged, would resist attempts to bypass the dictates of the laws and commence a trial whose end result has been premeditated and designed. 

Mazi Nnamdi Kanu has chosen to frontally confront the Nigerian state on the issues pertaining his quest for Biafra self-determination  which in its self is lawful and  it is guaranteed by local and international laws, and the Nigerian judiciary which is already susceptible to compromise is in a crossroad to choose either to uphold the law which is its ordained duty or shamefully collapse before the audience of the global community while trying to play along with the agenda of the federal government. 

Whichever the Nigerian judiciary chooses, posterity and humanity will be the judge. However, one thing is unarguable, and that is; Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and the Biafra quest is a political issue which would and can  only be resolved through a political solution. 

Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and the IPOB movement proposed a United Nations supervised referendum but the Federal Government so far has offered nothing other than guns, bullets,  abduction voyages including outside its shores and incarcerations.  The world knows who is the real aggressors and those who through terrorist means have sought and suppressed genuine dissenting voices using state machinations.

Family Writers Press International