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Kanu’s Trial An Effort To Force Conviction In Absence of Law’ – Defence Team
The Mazi Nnamdi Kanu Global Defence Consortium has described the trial of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, leader as a calculated effort to force conviction in the absence of law.
The consortium, a group of lawyers fighting for the freedom of the pro-Biafra agitator, made the claim in a statement signed by Barrister Onyedikachi Ifedi. According to the statement, the Nigerian government prosecution lawyers “engineered a trial without law” in Kanu’s case.
Kanu was on November 20, 2025 sentenced to life imprisonment by an Abuja Federal High Court presided by Justice James Omotosho, following his conviction on terrorism charges. The IPOB leader is currently serving the sentence at the Sokoto Prison.
Kanu’s lawyers have commenced moves to appeal the conviction and in a statement on Saturday, the Mazi Nnamdi Kanu Global Defence Consortium faulted the trial, noting that the prosecution did not specify the law on which the IPOB leader was prosecuted and convicted.
“It was a calculated effort to force a conviction to survive the absence of law,” the statement said, highlighting what transpired during the proceedings on November 4, 2025, when Kanu took up his own defence.
“On 4 November 2025, a Nigerian Federal High Court sat in Abuja and did something unprecedented in modern constitutional practice. It continued a criminal trial without identifying the law under which the accused was being tried, admitted that the Constitution forbids conviction without such a law, deferred the issue to “final address” and then abolished final address altogether.
“It was institutional intransigence — a judge and a prosecutor working in tandem to avoid the law,” the statement said.
The defence team observed that throughout the proceedings of 4 November 2025, Kanu asked one question, repeatedly – “My Lord, please show me the law under which I am being tried.”
“It is the most basic question in criminal justice. And the court never answered it,” the statement said, adding that “at no point on 4 November 2025 did Justice Omotosho name an extant statute; identify an operative section; explain which law survived repeal; or state which written law justified detention”.
The defence team argued that the trial did not comply with Section 36(12) of the Constitution which stipulates that no person shall be tried or convicted unless the offence is defined by written law.
“Trial itself is barred where no law exists.
You do not “get to defence first” and then check if a crime exists. Detention without law becomes lawful under this logic, which is constitutionally impossible.
“This was not ignorance. It was a deliberate re-engineering of the Constitution to keep the trial alive,” the statement said.
The defence team equally faulted the argument that nobody came before court to give evidence of Kanu’s extraordinary rendition.
Faulting the claimz the defence team said, “This is demonstrably false on the record because rendition was pleaded on affidavit; appellate courts had ruled on it; Omotosho cited the same Kenyan judgment that condemned extraordinary rendition yet stated nothing about extraordinary rendition was placed before him; the Supreme Court itself (Agim JSC concurring) described it as state criminality”.
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Breaking: Nigerian Workers Demand N300,000 Minimum Wage, FG Faces Fresh Salary Pressure
The Federal Workers Forum, FWF, has demanded an immediate increase in the federal minimum wage from N70,000 to N300,000, noting that the current salary structure can no longer sustain civil servants amid Nigeria’s rising cost of living.
The Forum made the demand in a letter dated September 2, 2026, addressed to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the National Assembly, with the Senate President, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Chief Justice of Nigeria and Head of the Civil Service of the Federation listed among the recipients.
The workers also proposed a new salary structure that would place the highest-paid Level 17 officer on a monthly salary of N1.5 million, while Level 1 Step 1 workers would earn N300,000.
“We call for justice and immediate wage review now, adjust the federal minimum wage to N300,000 and a maximum wage of N1.5m for the Level 17 officers,” the Forum said.
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The FWF argued that the Federal Government had not fully implemented the 2024 minimum wage agreement, claiming that federal workers had yet to receive the full consequential adjustment and associated allowances.
“It will surprise you to hear that the Federal Government has not fully implemented the new national minimum wage since July 2024. We have been in the battle for full consequential adjustment of the new minimum wage,” it said.
Recall that the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, in August 2026, demanded an upward review of the minimum wage to N500,000.
In July 2024, President Bola Tinubu’s government increased the minimum wage to N70,000 per month from N30,000.
However, the cost of living for many Nigerians has tripled between 2024 and 2026.
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The Federal Government has said Nigeria will never support a military coup or any unconstitutional change of government, following claims that the country backed a failed coup attempt in the Niger Republic.
The Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Sola Enikanolaiye, made this known in a statement issued on Thursday.
According to the statement, the claims circulating on social media are baseless and misleading.
Enikanolaiye said Nigeria remained committed to democracy, constitutional rule and political stability in West Africa and would not support any attempt to remove a government through unconstitutional means.
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“Nigeria will never support illegality or unconstitutional change of government anywhere, no matter who is involved or which country is concerned,” he said.
The minister also rejected claims that Nigeria, through its membership of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), supported or endorsed the military takeover in Niger.
He said the Federal Government had already stated its position on the situation in Niger in an earlier statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on August 30, 2026.
According to him, Nigeria remains deeply concerned about developments in Niger and wants the country to return peacefully to stability and constitutional order.
Enikanolaiye said Nigeria’s close historical, cultural and fraternal ties with Niger made peace and stability in the neighbouring country particularly important.
“Nigerians at home and abroad should disregard the videos and narratives circulating online, they are intended to create confusion and tarnish Nigeria’s image,” the statement said.
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