NIGERIA: CONVICT APPEALS TO SUPREME COURT

Aminu Tanko, who was sentenced to death by a Nigerian State High Court for conspiracy and robbery and whose conviction was affirmed by the Court of Appeal appealed to the Supreme Court. He said that his conviction was illegal since the state high court had no right to try him and is therefore calling for his sentence to be reversed. Addressing the court in Abuja through his lawyer, Chuckwuma-Machuckwu-Ume, the appellant said that he was tried and convicted by the state high court under the Robbery and Firearms (Special Provisions) Act Cap. 398 LFN 1990. He said that the offence created by the Act of National Assembly made it a federal offence triable only by the Attorney-General of Federation. To him, it was wrong to deem the Act as a state law as doing so would be incompatible with the power of the state to make laws as provided in the constitution.