BREAKING: Nnamdi Kanu Returns to Supreme Court, Moves to Trash “Per Incuriam” Judgment That Relied on a Dead Law

BREAKING: Nnamdi Kanu Returns to Supreme Court, Moves to Trash “Per Incuriam” Judgment That Relied on a Dead Law Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, leader of...

BREAKING: Nnamdi Kanu Returns to Supreme Court, Moves to Trash “Per Incuriam” Judgment That Relied on a Dead Law

Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), has filed a fresh motion at the Supreme Court of Nigeria praying the apex court to set aside its own December 15, 2023 judgment, which he branded a “per incuriam” ruling that deliberately used a repealed law to keep him in endless detention.

In a blistering statement issued on Monday and titled “A Judgment That Destroyed Justice”, Kanu’s legal team, led by Barrister Njoku Jude Njoku, accused the Supreme Court panel of committing a calculated judicial sabotage.

The five justices  Justice Garba Lawal (who presided), Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, Emmanuel Agim, Tijjani Abubakar, and Ibrahim Musa Saulawa  were alleged to have knowingly applied the Terrorism (Prevention) (Amendment) Act 2013 even though it had been expressly repealed and replaced by the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act 2022 on 12 May 2022, over 18 months before their ruling.

“The Supreme Court knew the law was dead. They admitted in their own judgment that a repealed statute cannot ground a criminal charge, yet they resurrected the corpse of that law just to send Nnamdi Kanu back to trial,” Barr. Njoku fired.

He described the decision as “a deliberate judicial ambush”, “vindictive jurisprudence”, and “not a mistake, but a conscious manoeuvre to ensure perpetual captivity.”The legal team insists the 2023 ruling is a complete nullity because:

It was founded on a repealed (dead) law  

It violated Kanu’s constitutional protection against double jeopardy (Section 36(9) of the 1999 Constitution) after the Court of Appeal had discharged and acquitted him  

A per incuriam judgment enjoys no protection under the doctrine of finality and can be set aside by the same Supreme Court  as it has done in the past.

“A repealed law is a legal corpse. You cannot breathe life into it to prosecute any citizen. Once the enabling law dies, every proceeding hanging on it collapses automatically,” Njoku declared.

He warned that allowing this judgment to stand would set a deadly precedent: any Nigerian can now be tried with expired laws, retried endlessly after acquittal, and the courts reduced to instruments of political vengeance.

“This battle is bigger than Nnamdi Kanu. It is about rescuing the Nigerian judiciary from becoming a willing tool in the hands of government reprisal,” the statement concluded.

Kanu’s lawyers are therefore urging the Supreme Court to courageously correct its own “grievous judicial blunder”  not just to free their client, but to restore public confidence in the temple of justice.