Lawyers representing Nnamdi Kanu, the imprisoned leader of the separatist Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), have denounced a Nigerian court’s decision sentencing him to life imprisonment on seven terrorism-related counts.
The court found Kanu responsible for directing and enforcing disruptive weekly stay-at-home orders in southeastern Nigeria, instructing followers on constructing explosives aimed at government sites, and inciting violence. His legal team insists the judgment is fundamentally flawed.
Aloy Ejimakor, one of Kanu’s legal advisers, condemned the ruling, arguing that the conviction rests largely on Kanu’s rhetoric rather than proven actions. He described the outcome as “overreaching, harsh, and unsupported by the evidence,” adding that the defense intends to continue contesting the verdict through all available avenues.
Kanu, who was detained in 2021 after being extradited from Kenya, had previously fled Nigeria following a missed court appearance in 2015. Government prosecutors, who had originally pursued the death penalty, expressed satisfaction with the life sentence.
Prosecutor Adegboyega Awomolo framed the decision as necessary for protecting national security, saying it reinforces the principle that no individual is exempt from the law. He characterized the ruling as a deterrent to what he called “criminal and extremist behavior.”
Kanu has long been a central figure in the campaign to reestablish Biafra, a region whose attempted secession between 1967 and 1970 led to the Nigerian Civil War—an event that caused millions of deaths and remains a highly sensitive part of the nation’s history.
