The United States-based counsel to the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, Bruce Fein, has strongly criticised the decision of the Federal High Court, Abuja, dismissing the no-case submission filed by his client.
In a letter addressed to Justice James Omotosho and made public on Wednesday, Fein described the court’s ruling as a betrayal of legal and moral principles, insisting that the Nigerian government must not be allowed to benefit from actions he called unlawful and unconstitutional.
“No government should profit from its own criminality. That has been binding law from time immemorial,” Fein declared.
Citing the words of the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis in the landmark 1928 case Olmstead v. United States, Fein reminded the court that the credibility of any government rests on its own obedience to the rule of law.
“If the government becomes a lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for law,” Fein quoted. “It invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy.”
The American lawyer, who serves as Kanu’s international legal representative, argued that the Federal Government violated international norms in the process that led to Kanu’s arrest and rendition from Kenya. He referenced the 2022 opinion of the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, which called for Kanu’s “immediate and unconditional release.”
Fein maintained that Kanu’s alleged extraordinary rendition amounted to a “universal crime” under international law — one that should strip the Nigerian court of jurisdiction to continue his prosecution.
“These are universal crimes under international law binding on Nigeria with or without its consent,” Fein wrote. “They oust Nigerian courts of jurisdiction to prosecute Mr. Kanu, to prevent the government from profiting from its own actions.”
He urged Justice Omotosho to dismiss all charges against Kanu, warning that failing to do so would erode public confidence in the judiciary and compromise Nigeria’s reputation before the international community.
“If you refrain from dismissing all outstanding charges against Mr. Kanu for lack of jurisdiction, you will have been unfaithful to your professional duty to see that justice is done,” Fein stated.
Earlier this month, Justice Omotosho ruled that the prosecution had established a prima facie case against the IPOB leader, enough to compel him to enter his defence. The court held that the evidence presented could not be set aside at the preliminary stage, as it raised substantive issues to be tested during the trial proper.
The judge therefore dismissed the no-case submission filed by Kanu’s legal team, paving the way for the defence to open its case.
Fein, however, insists the proceedings should not continue under what he calls a “tainted process.”
“Justice is the end of government,” he wrote. “And nothing is more unjust than a government profiting from its own wrong.”