Human rights lawyer and lead counsel to detained IPOB leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, Aloy Ejimakor, has called on Nigerians to collectively resist what he described as the illegal and unconstitutional prosecution of his client by the Nigerian government.
In a statement issued on Saturday and obtained by The legalobserver, Ejimakor said Kanu’s continued detention and trial amount to “a direct endorsement of a grave state crime,” referencing his extraordinary rendition from Kenya to Nigeria.
“The continued prosecution of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu is supposed to be opposed by all and sundry,” Ejimakor declared.
He faulted individuals and groups who recently announced plans to monitor Kanu’s trial, describing such actions as misguided.
“While it’s commendable that Kanu has attracted an avalanche of support, there’s not supposed to be any trial to monitor — not to talk of prosecuting him in the first place,” he argued.
Ejimakor maintained that Nigeria lost its legal authority to try Kanu the moment it executed his extraordinary rendition, likening the act to the infamous 1984 Umaru Dikko kidnapping attempt under the Shehu Shagari administration.
According to him, both incidents represent *grave state crimes* under international law that strip a complicit government of the right to prosecute the victim.
“When extraordinary rendition happens, dire consequences must follow. One of them is that the state involved permanently loses its prosecutorial power over the victim,” Ejimakor explained.
He recalled that in the Dikko case, Britain’s decisive reaction — including arrests, convictions, and severed diplomatic ties with Nigeria — demonstrated the international community’s zero tolerance for such violations.
“As regards Kanu, Nigeria has, by her own hands, lost its jurisdiction to subject him to trial. No valid prosecutorial action can proceed from such a manifestly criminal act by a state,” he said.
Ejimakor warned that those advocating a “fair trial” for Kanu were unintentionally legitimising an unlawful process.
“When you say you’ll be monitoring Kanu’s trial or calling for a fair trial, you’re buying into a grievous state crime that should shock your conscience,” he cautioned.
He urged Nigerians, civil society organisations, and political leaders to rally behind the #MNKOct20 campaign aimed at securing Kanu’s immediate release.
“Now you see why you must oppose Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s continued prosecution and detention. Join the train for his freedom before it leaves the station to Aso Rock,” Ejimakor concluded.
