Abuja, Nigeria — A new public briefing note authored by legal practitioner Onyedikachi Ifedi has reignited debate over the conviction of IPOB leader Nnamdi Kanu, arguing that the central issue before the Court of Appeal is not whether Kanu's case survived the repeal of Nigeria's old terrorism law, but whether the conviction itself was founded on a valid law in force at the time judgment was delivered.
Titled "The Bridge, The Old Road, and The New Road," the briefing uses a road-travel analogy to explain what it describes as a critical legal flaw in the trial court's reasoning.
The Road Analogy
According to the briefing, the Terrorism Prevention (Amendment) Act 2013 was effectively replaced when the National Assembly enacted the Terrorism Prevention and Prohibition Act 2022.
The author likens the repealed 2013 law to a permanently closed road, while describing Section 98(3) of the 2022 Act as a bridge created to ensure that cases already in progress would not be abandoned.
Under this interpretation, the new 2022 Act becomes the new road that all pending cases must follow after crossing the bridge.
The briefing argues that Section 97 of the 2022 Act specifically directs that pending proceedings "shall be continued and concluded under this Act," meaning under the new law rather than the repealed legislation.
Alleged Failure to Transition
The document contends that while the trial court relied on the savings clause to keep the proceedings alive, it allegedly failed to complete the transition to the new statutory framework.
According to the author, the court effectively used the savings clause to preserve the case but continued relying on provisions from the repealed law when arriving at conviction.
The briefing describes this as an "illegal U-turn" back to a road that Parliament had already closed.
Constitutional Question Raised
At the centre of the argument is Section 36(12) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, which provides that no person shall be convicted of a criminal offence unless the offence and punishment are prescribed in a written law.
The briefing argues that the key question is whether the offences for which Kanu was convicted were defined by a written law that remained in force on November 20, 2025, the date judgment was delivered.
It maintains that a savings clause may preserve a case but cannot itself create offences or prescribe criminal penalties.
Judicial Notice Controversy
The author further argues that the repeal of the 2013 law was repeatedly brought to the attention of the court and that the court was invited on several occasions to take judicial notice of that repeal.
According to the briefing, the court declined to formally address the issue in the manner requested and proceeded with conviction.
The document states that the concern is not necessarily the court's intention but whether the legal route taken complied with the statutory framework established by Parliament.
"Show Me The Law"
The briefing concludes that the fundamental question remains unanswered:
"What written law in force on November 20, 2025, defined the offences and prescribed the punishments for which Mazi Nnamdi Kanu was convicted?"
According to the author, the Court of Appeal must now determine whether the conviction can be supported by specific provisions of the Terrorism Prevention and Prohibition Act 2022.
The briefing argues that if no such provisions can be clearly identified as the basis for the conviction, constitutional questions regarding the validity of the judgment would arise under Section 36(12) of the Constitution.
Appeal Focus
The author insists that the appeal is not challenging the survival of the proceedings after repeal, noting that all sides generally accept that the savings clause preserved the case.
Instead, the briefing argues that the dispute concerns whether the legal foundation used to secure the conviction remained valid after the repeal of the earlier terrorism law.
For that reason, the document maintains that one question remains central to the appeal:
"Show me the law."
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