The defence team of leader of the banned Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu, has raised the alarm over the refusal of the Federal High Court, Abuja, to hear motions challenging its jurisdiction to prosecute him.
A member of the defence team, Christopher Chidera,., raised the alarm in a statement issued on Monday.
The defence team asserted that the court’s persistent refusal to hear threshold jurisdictional motions in the Nnamdi Kanu trial is a direct assault on the Constitution and 63 years of binding Supreme Court precedents.
Kanu’s defence team accused Justice James Omotosho of shutting his eyes and ears to two properly filed, duly served, and constitutionally unassailable motions that go to the very root of the court’s jurisdiction:
Citing legal precedents, the defence team noted that motions that concern jurisdiction must be taken first in any trial.
“For over 63 years, the Supreme Court of Nigeria has spoken with a single, uninterrupted, authoritative voice:
When jurisdiction is challenged, the court must stop and determine it immediately. Nothing else can lawfully proceed,” the statement added.
According to the defence team, there is an unbroken constitutional principle which stipulates that when the competence of the court or of the charge is challenged, the law imposes an immediate, mandatory, and non-discretionary duty on the judge to stop and determine the issue.
“There is no discretion. There is no wait until final address. Justice Omotosho’s refusal is therefore not an exercise of discretion—it is a flagrant violation of the supreme law of judicial process,” the defence team argued.
Accusing the prosecution of complicity in the matter, the defence team disclosed that federal government’s lawyer, Chief Adegboyega Awomolo, SAN, and the Federal Ministry of Justice were served with the jurisdiction motions on 11 November 2025.
“Seven days later, there is no counter-affidavit, no written address, and no attempt to defend the legality of their own charge.
“This is not negligence. This is a calculated gamble that the court will ignore the law, ignore the motions, and deliver a conviction under a statute that was repealed three years ago,” the statement said.
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The court has fixed November 20, 2025 to deliver judgment in Kanu’s trial.
The defence team warned of the consequences of delivering judgment without hearing the motions.
The statement said,: “If Justice Omotosho proceeds to judgment without hearing the two pending motions, the judgment will be a certified constitutional nullity. It will be set aside instanter by the Court of Appeal.
“It will expose the trial judge to disciplinary sanctions for denying fair hearing and pronouncing judgment “over silence”. It will inflict severe damage on Nigeria’s international legal credibility.”
The defence team noted that no Nigerian is safe if a court can ignore jurisdiction, “ignore repealed laws, ignore binding appellate decisions, and ignore the defendant simply because the case is politically sensitive”.
