A Nigerian court has sentenced Nnamdi Kanu, founder of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), to life imprisonment after finding him guilty on a series of terrorism-related offences following a decade-long legal saga.
Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court in Abuja delivered the ruling on Thursday, convicting the 58-year-old on seven counts, including inciting violence against security forces and civilians through IPOB activities and his Radio Biafra broadcasts.
Prosecutors had pushed for the death penalty, but the judge opted for a life term, saying capital punishment is increasingly unacceptable. The court found that Kanu encouraged armed resistance, ordered “sit-at-home” shutdowns that severely disrupted economic activity, and urged supporters to arm themselves. Kanu, who holds both Nigerian and British citizenship, rejected the charges as illegitimate, claiming the terrorism law applied to him had been repealed. He recently dismissed his legal team and insisted on defending himself, at one point being removed from the courtroom for what the judge called “unruly” behaviour.
Kanu was first arrested in 2015 on treason-related charges, granted bail in 2017, and later fled the country. In 2021, he was detained in Kenya and returned to Nigeria in a controversial operation his supporters describe as an unlawful rendition. IPOB, which campaigns for a renewed Biafran state, was labelled a terrorist organisation in 2017. The historic Biafra, which existed from 1967 to 1970, fell after a devastating civil war that left deep scars in Nigeria’s southeast.
His sentencing comes amid growing pressure on Biafran separatist movements. In September, Finnish authorities jailed Simon Ekpa, a prominent ally of Kanu and leader of a splinter “Biafran government in exile,” on terrorism-related charges tied to violence in Nigeria’s southeast.
