EXCLUSIVE: Lawyer Faults Supreme Court Judgment On Nnamdi Kanu

A human rights lawyer, Barr. Christopher Chidera, has strongly criticized the Supreme Court’s judgment in Federal Republic of Nigeria v. Nnamdi Kanu (SC/CR/1364/2022), describing it as unconstitutional, per incuriam, and a “judicial fraud in broad daylight.. . Read ..Full.. Article.. .

In a memorandum dated September 16, 2025, and circulated to Nigerian courts, professional bodies, and international forums, Chidera argued that the apex court misapplied precedent by invoking Dokubo-Asari v. FRN (2007) to justify Kanu’s detention.

“Asari Dokubo is not Mazi Nnamdi Kanu,” Chidera declared in the memorandum shared with Ondopress  on Wednesday.

The lawyer emphasised that, “The fact that the Nigerian state once succeeded in detaining Mujahid Asari Dokubo on charges of treasonable felony does not mean it can apply the same crude methods to Kanu, a man backed by a global defence consortium.”

According to him, the two cases are “worlds apart.” While Dokubo-Asari involved a routine domestic arrest and bail application, he said, Kanu’s case involved “extraordinary rendition from Nairobi, in breach of Kenya’s sovereignty and Nigeria’s Extradition Act.”

He maintained that the proper precedent is Dikko v. State (1987), which arose from Nigeria’s failed attempt to abduct Umaru Dikko from London, not the Dokubo-Asari case.

“By citing Dokubo-Asari, the Supreme Court collapsed the crucial distinction between a local arrest irregularity and a state-sponsored international kidnapping,” he argued. “That is an exercise in intellectual perversion.”

Chidera also faulted the Supreme Court for reversing the Court of Appeal’s October 13, 2022, decision that had discharged Kanu on jurisdictional grounds, and..  Read . .More …