The National leadership of the Ohanaeze Youth Council (OYC) has raised concerns over the judicial process surrounding the upcoming judgement for the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, scheduled for November 20, 2025.
The OYC stated that their concerns stem from what they describe as the illegal rendition of Nnamdi Kanu from Kenya to Nigeria in June 2021, as well as procedural inconsistencies linked to the Terrorism Prevention (Amendment) Act of 2022, which repealed key provisions of the 2020 Act under which the charges were filed.
In a press release on Monday, signed by its National President, Igboayaka Igboayaka, and National Publicity Secretary, Ukpabi Michael Authority, the council emphasized that any trial based on an unlawful arrest or extraordinary rendition violates both international law and the Nigerian Constitution (Section 36 of the 1999 CFRN, as amended).
The group said that Nigeria remains a signatory to several treaties that prohibit such acts, including the Charter of the United Nations, the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
It warned that to proceed with a conviction without resolving the jurisdictional breach created by such a rendition, and stipulation of a written law under which Nnamdi Kanu is being tried, would constitute a travesty of justice and a dangerous precedence that undermines the integrity of the Nigerian judiciary before the global community.
” It is equally disturbing that the charges against Kanu appear to hinge on the repealed provisions of the Terrorism Prevention Act (Cap. T23, LFN 2020), which were replaced by the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.
“By settled judicial principle, no citizen can be tried or convicted under a repealed law, as affirmed in multiple Supreme Court decisions, including FRN v. Ifegwu (2003) 15 NWLR (Pt. 842) 113.
“A conviction on such a basis would therefore not only be illegal, legally defective but would also expose the Nigerian state that there is ethnic targeting against Igbo tribe in the east, and further expose Nigeria to international embarrassment and potential sanctions for judicial abuse”, Igboayaka and Michael said.
The OYC which called on President Bola Tinubu, the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, and the Chief Justice of Nigeria to exercise restraint and uphold the supremacy of the rule of law, he cautioned that Nnamdi Kanu’s trial must not be converted into a political instrument of tribal victimization, suppression and oppression, but rather a platform for national reconciliation, truth and justice.
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