The Federal High Court in Abuja on Wednesday sentenced Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), to life imprisonment after convicting him on seven counts bordering on terrorism.
The 58-year-old British-Nigerian leader, who has been in the custody of the Department of State Services since his rearrest in Kenya on 27 June 2021, stood motionless in the dock as the judge delivered the verdict in a packed courtroom.
Delivering the judgment, Justice James Omotosho ruled that “The defendant is hereby sentenced to imprisonment for life on counts 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. On counts 6 and 7, you are sentenced to 20 years and 5 years imprisonment respectively; all sentences are to run concurrently.”
The charges, brought under the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act 2022, stemmed from radio broadcasts on Radio Biafra between 2018 and 2021 in which Kanu allegedly incited violence against the Nigerian state and called for the creation of an independent Republic of Biafra in the South-East.
The judge, however, said a life sentence was “sufficient punishment and merciful in the circumstances.”
Kanu’s lead counsel, Alloy Ejimakor, immediately indicated plans to appeal, calling the judgment “a tragic miscarriage of justice” and repeating long-standing claims that the trial was politically motivated.
Outside the court complex, hundreds of IPOB supporters who had gathered since dawn wailed and chanted “No Biafra, No Peace” as news of the sentence spread.
Security personnel were mounted, to prevent a repeat of the violent protests that followed Kanu’s initial detention in 2015.
Kanu, dressed in his trademark white caftan, was led away by operatives shortly after the proceedings.
Some legal experts are predicting the case will now head to the Court of Appeal and possibly the Supreme Court, a process that could take several years.
For now, Nigeria’s most prominent separatist voice has been silenced behind bars for life.
