The Mazi Nnamdi Kanu Global Defence Consortium has said the case of the Leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, has demonstrated why all Nigerians must become legally literate.
The defence team, comprising lawyers fighting for Kanu’s freedom, spoke after the IPOB leader filed a motion asking the Abuja Federal High Court to transfer him from the Sokoto custodial centre to the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, for his life prison sentence.
Kanu, who was convicted on terrorism charges by Justice James Omotosho on November 20, 2025, is currently serving the sentence at the Sokoto prison.
In a statement issued by Barrister Njoku Jude Njoku, the defence team noted that the Abuja Federal High Court’s decision to convict Kanu on what it described as a repealed law has made it imperative that Nigerians must now become legally literate “by force”.
The statement said, “A dangerous thing is happening in Nigeria, and Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s case has exposed it in broad daylight: our judiciary has become so comfortable distorting common sense that ordinary citizens must now become legally literate by force just to protect themselves.
“For years, the courts hid behind robes, wigs, Latin maxims, and intimidating jargon to shield the public from understanding how power truly works. But the monstrosity that emerged on 20 November 2025 — when Justice James Omotosho convicted Nnamdi Kanu under a law repealed three years earlier — has forced Nigerians into a crash-course in legal survival.
“And for once, Nigerians are asking the right question. How can you convict a man in 2025 under a law National Assembly buried in 2022?”
Kanu and his defence team had argued that the Terrorism Prevention Amendment Act 2013, under which he was charged, has been repealed by the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition Act) 2022.
Noting that a law dies when it is repealed by the National Assembly, the lawyer stressed that “You cannot try a man under a dead law and Nigerian courts have said it over and over again.”
According to him, the Supreme Court made the declaration in a landmark case – A.G. Lagos State v. Dosunmu, where the apex court held that once a law is repealed, it ceases to exist for all future purposes.
“Meaning you cannot charge under it,
you cannot try under it, and you cannot convict under it,” he stated.
Noting that Kanu’s conviction was built on Section 98(3) of the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act 2022, the defence team argued that the judge “conveniently ignored Section 97” which stipulated that any trial shall be continued and completed under the Act.
“The trial in Kanu’s case restarted in March 2025. By law, it must proceed under the 2022 Act,” Njoku said, stating that Section 98(3) does not authorize a 2025 conviction under a 2013 law, as it does not override Section 97.
The statement further observed that Nigerian judges have over the years adopted a formula of intimidating the public with complex language until they stop asking questions. However, it noted that the situation has changed with Kanu’s case as Nigerians are now “forced to become lawyers” due to exposure to legal knowledge.
“Nnamdi Kanu’s case has backfired spectacularly. The courts have forced Nigerians to become lawyers — for survival. This era of judicial mystification is dying. Kanu’s case is the breaking point. It has forced ordinary Nigerians to open the statutes themselves. And when the people read the law directly, without judicial distortion, the entire edifice of manipulation crumbles,” the statement said.
The Mazi Nnamdi Kanu Global Defence Consortium expressed confidence that Kanu’s conviction will be overturned by the Court of Appeal.
Njoku argued that if the Court of Appeal upholds the conviction, it would overthrow every repeal rule in Nigerian jurisprudence, contradict the Constitution and Supreme Court precedents, and drag Nigeria into global ridicule.
“It is legally impossible to sustain the judgment without committing intellectual dishonesty on a national scale. Kanu’s case is not just a legal battle. It is a national awakening,” the statement added.