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From Okey Sampson, Umuahia
A human rights lawyer, Christopher Chidera, has said the National Assembly killed the old terrorism law, Terrorism Prevention Amendment Act 2013 (TPAA) under which Nnamdi Kanu was charged and convicted.
Chidera said Kanu’s case is not as complicated as the government of Nigeria and Britain would like people to believe.
In a statement entitled, “Public Legal Briefing Note: What Justice Omotosho Did and Why it is Not Law,” Chidera accused the judge of pretending the law was still alive even when he knew it was dead.
“That is illegal because Nigerian law, s.122 (2)(a) Evidence Act, says a judge like Omotosho, who 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.”
Throwing more light on his claim, Chidera said in 2022, the National Assembly passed a new terrorism law, scrapping the old terrorism laws from 2011 and 2013.
“Dead laws cannot jail people. This is important to note because the Constitution of Nigeria says so.
“The old terrorism laws are repealed. Section 98(1) TPPA repealed it and Omotosho acknowledged it in his judgment. A judge cannot jail a man using a law parliament has buried,” the lawyer asserted.
Chidera said since any old case must move forward under the new law, it then means that Kanu should have been tried under the current law, which is TPPA and not the repealed TPAA.
“Justice Omotosho said he was ensuring a ‘smooth transition’ from the old law (TPAA) to the new law (TPPA), but he never transitioned anywhere. He never tried Nnamdi Kanu under the new law, TPPA as the law commanded him to.
