By Queen Kunde
The American Veterans of Igbo Descent (AVID) has come out swinging against what it described as a “continuing judicial travesty” in the trial of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), accusing Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court, Abuja, of presiding over a “constitutionally defective proceeding.”
In a strongly worded statement issued Thursday and signed by its president, Chief Dr. Sylvester Onyia, the U.S.-based veterans’ group condemned the alleged erosion of fair hearing and due process in the case, warning that Nigeria’s judiciary is “sliding into constitutional lawlessness.”
“Nigeria’s 1999 Constitution is clear under Section 36(12) — no person shall be tried for an offence not defined in a written law,” AVID declared.
“Yet the Nigerian state persists in trying Mazi Nnamdi Kanu under a dead law — the repealed Terrorism (Prevention) (Amendment) Act, 2013 — instead of the current 2022 Act.”
AVID accused Justice Omotosho of judicial dereliction for allegedly refusing to acknowledge the repeal of the 2013 Act, in violation of Section 122(2)(a) of the Evidence Act, which mandates courts to take judicial notice of enacted laws.
The group also faulted the judge’s reported decision to defer rulings on jurisdiction and double jeopardy until final judgment, insisting such questions “strike at the root of any criminal trial.”
“No court, no matter how highly placed, can arrogate to itself jurisdiction it does not possess,” AVID stated, citing Supreme Court precedents and the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022, which it says requires “double criminality” for offences allegedly committed abroad — a standard not met in Kanu’s case.
AVID further accused Nigeria’s legal institutions, including the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) and National Judicial Council (NJC), of “cowardly silence” in the face of what it termed “manifest constitutional infidelity.”
“A nation whose lawyers fear to ask, ‘Under what law is this man being tried?’ has surrendered its conscience to tyranny,” the statement charged.
The group alleged multiple violations of Kanu’s right to fair hearing including denial of access to lawyers and disregard for evidence before the court. It cited an incident in open court where Kanu reportedly asked for a short recess to avert “judicial embarrassment” — a request the judge allegedly refused.
“When he asked, ‘Under what law am I being tried?’ Justice Omotosho replied, ‘Wait till judgment.’ That response alone exposes the moral collapse of Nigeria’s judiciary,” AVID lamented.
Calling on the United Nations Human Rights Council, the U.S. State Department, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, and the International Criminal Court, AVID urged international monitoring of what it described as “ongoing judicial abuses in Nigeria.”
“Justice Omotosho’s courtroom has become a theatre of constitutional absurdity — where a man is asked to defend himself against a non-existent law,” AVID said.
“If Nigeria still claims to be a constitutional democracy, it must halt this charade, restore the rule of law, and release Mazi Nnamdi Kanu unconditionally.”
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