Newscenter Media News 
A lawyer and member of the Mazi Nnamdi Kanu Defence Consortium, Barrister Christopher Chidera, has said that the National Judicial Council, NJC, and the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, are hoping that propaganda would bury the “illegalities” in Kanu’s conviction.
Chidera, who made the assertion in a statement on Monday, faulted the silence of Nigeria’s foremost legal institutions and some prominent Nigerians over what he described as the unlawful conviction and imprisonment of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, leader.
According to the lawyer, Kanu should not have been prosecuted, not to talk of being convicted, under the Terrorism Prevention Amendment Act, 2013, TPAA, which has been repealed by the National Assembly.
He said, “The case of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu is not as complicated as the government of Nigeria and Britain would like the world to believe.
“The National Assembly of Nigeria killed the old terrorism law Terrorism Prevention Amendment Act, 2013 (TPAA) under which Nnamdi Kanu was charged and convicted. The trial judge pretended it was still alive even though he knows it’s dead.
“That is illegal because Nigerian law, s.122 (2)(a) Evidence Act, says a judge that pretends a dead law is still alive is doing so illegally, he is breaking the law.
“NBA, NJC and a few reasonable people know the truth but they are hoping the noisy propaganda surrounding Kanu’s conviction will bury it.”
Stressing that the Terrorism Prevention Amendment Act, 2013, TPAA, cannot be used to convict anybody, Chidera noted, “In 2022, Nigeria passed a new terrorism law. At the same time, National Assembly in Abuja scrapped the old terrorism laws from 2011 and 2013.
“Scrapped means dead. Dead laws cannot jail people. This is important to note because the Constitution of Nigeria says so.
“NBA knows this, NJC knows, judges know, lawyers know this basic law. Why are they silent?”
Pointing out that the trial judge also acknowledged the repeal of the Terrorism Prevention Amendment Act, 2013, TPAA, the lawyer explained, “Any old cases must move forward under the new law. This means that Kanu should be tried under the current written law, TPPA. Not under the repealed TPAA.
“Nothing already done before repeal is erased. But new decisions must follow the new law. The trial judge said he was ensuring a “smooth transition” from the old law (TPAA) to the new law (TPPA).
“He never transitioned anywhere. He never tried Nnamdi Kanu under the new law TPPA as the law commanded.
“Charges should have been under the 2022 law. The trial should have followed the 2022 rules. The punishment should come from the 2022 law. None of this happened.
“He convicted and sentenced Kanu using the dead 2013 law. He ignored the new law completely. This is deliberate bending of the law to get a conviction. A judge cannot jail a man using a law Parliament has buried.”
Chidera warned that if the judgment is allowed to stand, Nigerians are no longer safe.
“Any judge can resurrect any old law. Parliament becomes useless. The Constitution becomes decoration.Today it is Kanu. Tomorrow it can be anyone.
“This is about law versus lawlessness. A court that convicts under a dead law
is not doing justice. It is doing fraud in a robe. If Nigerians accept this, then nobody is safe,” he warned.
NJC, NBA hoping propaganda will bury illegalities in Nnamdi Kanu’s conviction – Lawyer