When faceless authors, hiding under government mouthpieces like Authority Newspaper, churn out propaganda against the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), it becomes both laughable and tragic. Laughable because of the ignorance displayed, tragic because of the calculated attempt to deceive the public with falsehoods.
The article titled “IPOB’s Theatrical Search for Nnamdi Kanu’s Acquittal” is itself the very definition of political theatre. Let us dismantle it systematically with reason, logic and law.
1. APC IS THE REAL TERRORIST
A Canadian Superior Court — sitting in a jurisdiction where justice is not for sale — recently declared Nigeria’s ruling party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), and its partner in corruption, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), as terrorist organizations.
This is a legally binding foreign judgment that carries weight under the principle of international comity of courts. Thus, while APC-controlled propaganda outlets call IPOB a terrorist group, the civilized world has already branded APC itself as the terrorist. The irony is self-evident.
2. ILLEGAL RENDITION: A FATAL FLAW
The Nigerian government abducted Mazi Nnamdi Kanu from Kenya in June 2021 in a classic case of extraordinary rendition — an act prohibited under both domestic Nigerian and international law.
The Court of Appeal in FRN v. Kanu(CA/ABJ/CR/625/2022, judgment delivered 13 October 2022) held:
“The extraordinary rendition of the Appellant is a violation of his fundamental rights and renders the entire proceedings a nullity.” (p. 65, per Oludotun Adefope-Okojie JCA).
Instead of respecting this binding judgment, the Nigerian Supreme Court in its 15 December 2023 ruling (SC/CR/1364/2022) somersaulted, violating centuries of settled law by remitting a case that had already been nullified. That, dear reader, is the real theatre.
3. PROSECUTION ON A REPEALED LAW
The prosecution insists on trying Mazi Nnamdi Kanu under the Terrorism Prevention (Amendment) Act 2013 (TPAA 2013), a law that had been repealed by Section 49 of the Terrorism Prevention and Prohibition Act 2022 (TPPA 2022).
Section 36(8) of the Constitution is crystal clear:
“No person shall be held to be guilty of a criminal offence on account of any act or omission that did not, at the time it took place, constitute an offence under the law.”
In FRN v. Ifegwu (2003) 15 NWLR (Pt. 842) 113 at 175, the Supreme Court held:
“Where a statute creating an offence is repealed, the offence and all liabilities created thereunder die a natural death.”
Therefore, every count predicated on the TPAA 2013 is a legal corpse. Yet the Nigerian judiciary continues to entertain it.
That is theatre of the absurd. If you don’t know that in Nigerian criminal law jurisprudence that a repealed law cannot sustain a prosecution, then I am sorry I can’t help you. You need to go back to law school and be properly 4. NO PROOF OF ACTUS REUS OR MENS REA
The propaganda writer forgets the basics of criminal law: the prosecution must prove both actus reus (guilty act) and mens rea (guilty mind).
But what is the evidence?
No victim.
No weapon.
No violent act attributed personally to Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.
At best, speeches and broadcasts — which are constitutionally protected under Section 39 of the 1999 Constitution and Article 9 of the African Charter.
In Nwankwo v. The State (1983) 1 NCR 366, the Supreme Court warned that:
“Mere expression of opinion, however distasteful to government, cannot constitute a criminal offence unless it falls squarely within the statutory definition.”
Thus, criminalizing speech is nothing but dictatorship dressed as law.
