24/11/2025
Mazi Nnamdi Kanu (MNK), told Justice James Omotosho something that shook the courtroom and should wake every Nigerian up.
โMy Lord, I have checked my file and the laws cited. I cannot find any extant written law in force defining the offences for which Iโm charged. Section 36(12) of the Constitution requires that every criminal charge must be founded on a living written law. I invite the prosecution to state which law they rely on. If they canโt, I decline to enter any defence.โ
Recall that the charges were based on the Terrorism (Prevention) Act 2011, amended in 2013.
But that law was repealed and replaced by the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.
The implication is that the old law no longer exists.
Section 36(12) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) says:
โA person shall not be convicted of a criminal offence unless that offence is defined and the penalty prescribed in a written law.โ
This means that if the written law is dead, the charge dies with it. No living law, no valid prosecution.
Now, according to Section 6 of the Interpretation Act, repealing a law doesnโt stop ongoing cases unless the new law says so.
Now, the question is:
๐ Did the 2022 Act save prosecutions under the old one?
If it didnโt, the trial stands on shaky legal ground.
Thatโs the rule of law says, no law, no crime no crime, no trial. โ ๏ฟผfeeling fantastic in Abakaliki, Nigeria.
