Kanu’s Lawyer Faults S’Court Judgment, Says ‘Constitution Downgraded To Expediency’

The Global Defence Consortium of the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, has issued a petition faulting the Supreme Court judgment of December 15, 2023, which reversed the Court of Appeal’s discharge of Kanu and ordered his continued trial.

The petition, dated September 19, 2025, and obtained on Friday by THE WHISTLER was addressed to the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Hon. Justice Kudirat Motonmori Olatokunbo Kekere-Ekun, alongside Justices Mohammed Lawal Garba, Ibrahim Mohammed Musa Saulawa, Tijjani Abubakar, and Emmanuel Akomaye Agim, who sat on the panel that delivered the ruling.

Njoku Jude Njoku, Esq., who signed on behalf of the Mazi Nnamdi Kanu Global Defence Consortium, described the ruling as “per incuriam” and one that “threatens not only one man but the very foundations of Nigeria’s constitutional democracy”.

“Must Nigeria’s legal system be destroyed just to jail one man?” Njoku asked why accusing the justices of subordinating the Nigerian Constitution to statutes, thereby undermining its supremacy.

Quoting Section 1(1) and (3) of the 1999 Constitution, the petition stated, “By subordinating Section 36 CFRN (fair hearing) to statutory jurisdiction under the Terrorism Prevention Act and Section 251 CFRN, Your Lordships inverted this hierarchy. The Constitution does not bend to statutes.”

The consortium also criticised the court for treating Kanu’s extraordinary rendition from Kenya as a mere issue of “illegal arrest,” citing Ogugu v. State (1994) 9 NWLR (Pt. 366) 1 SC, which it argued fair hearing is a non-derogable right.

“Extraordinary rendition is the opposite of due process. It strips the trial of competence ab initio. By validating it, Your Lordships sanctioned the destruction of due process of law itself,” Njoku wrote.

Another key plank of the petition was the claim that the ruling destroyed the constitutional protection against double jeopardy, with the lawyer noting, “The Court of Appeal’s discharge was a final acquittal. Reversing it and sending Kanu back to trial violates the constitutional prohibition of autrefois acquit,” the petition stated, referencing FRN v. Ifegwu (2003) 15 NWLR (Pt. 842) 113 SC, where the Supreme Court held that the protection against double jeopardy is absolute.

The defence team also accused the justices of ignoring statutory safeguards in both the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) 2015 and the Extradition Act saying, “If such protections are mandatory even for intra-Nigeria arrests per ACJA, how much more for a cross-border abduction from Kenya? By overlooking this, Your Lordships rewarded illegality and entrenched lawlessness in Nigeria.”

The consortium further faulted the ruling for disregarding the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, which has been domesticated in Nigerian law.

“A 5-man panel cannot validly override binding 7-man panel precedents. Yet this is exactly what Your Lordships have done,” the petition said, citing Abacha v. Fawehinmi (2000) 6 NWLR (Pt. 660) 228 SC.

Summarising its grievances, the consortium warned that the ruling had destabilised the Nigerian justice system by collapsing constitutional rights into “trivial irregularities” and endorsing state lawlessness.

“The question is simple: Must Nigeria’s constitutional order be upturned just to jail one man? If the Constitution is no longer supreme, then no Nigerian is safe,” the petition declared.

Kanu’s Lawyer Faults S’Court Judgment, Says ‘Constitution Downgraded To Expediency’ is first published on The Whistler Newspaper