Nnamdi Kanu: Broadcast locations created legal flaw, says Ejimakor

Aloy Ejimakor, former lead counsel to Nnamdi Kanu, has argued that the failure to disclose the location of alleged broadcasts in Kanu’s terrorism trial created a legal flaw. Ejimakor, who represented Kanu from February 2024 to March 2025, pointed out that the broadcasts were said to have been made in either the United Kingdom or Kenya, but the prosecution did not specify the exact country.

This omission, according to Ejimakor, created a fundamental jurisdictional issue because the Terrorism Prevention and Prohibition Act 2022 introduced a requirement known as the doctrine of double criminality. This means that an act committed outside the country must also be an offence under the law of the foreign country where it occurred for extraterritorial jurisdiction to apply.

Ejimakor argued that without identifying the foreign location, the Federal High Court could not determine whether the conduct constituted an offence in the relevant foreign jurisdiction, thus preventing the court from asserting jurisdiction. He emphasized that the identification of the foreign location was not merely a technicality but crucial for establishing the court's jurisdiction over the alleged offences.

Ejimakor's criticism came after the Supreme Court overturned the Court of Appeal's decision discharging Kanu in December 2023, leading to the trial resuming under the jurisdiction of Justice Binta Murtala-Nyako. Despite this, Ejimakor maintained that the prosecution's failure to specify the foreign country where the broadcasts allegedly took place prevented the court from determining jurisdiction, ultimately resulting in Kanu's conviction by the Court of Appeal and subsequent sentencing to life imprisonment.