A Nigerian court has handed separatist leader Nnamdi Kanu a life sentence after finding him guilty on seven terrorism-related charges, bringing a dramatic close to one of the country’s most contentious trials.
Kanu, who founded the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), has spent years pushing for an independent state in southeastern Nigeria. IPOB’s activities have been linked to terrorism and extrajudicial killings in the region, accusations the group denies but which have fueled national and international scrutiny.
Prosecutors accused Kanu of coordinating acts of terrorism, directing the violent implementation of weekly stay-at-home orders that bring the southeast to a standstill every Monday, offering guidance on assembling explosives intended for government facilities and inciting unrest. Throughout the proceedings, he insisted the court had no authority over him.
During the judgment, Judge James Omotosho reminded the courtroom that “the right to self-determination is a political right,” but he added that “any self-determination not done according to the constitution of Nigeria is illegal.”
Prosecutors requested the death penalty, but Omotosho opted for a life sentence, saying his decision reflected both compassion and global attitudes toward capital punishment.
“I must temper justice with mercy. The court will follow the admonition of Jesus Christ in the above passage and show mercy to the convict. In addition, the death penalty globally is being frowned upon by the international community,” he said, according to AP’s report.
Kanu’s movement is rooted in attempts to revive Biafra, the briefly seceded region whose independence battle from 1967 to 1970 triggered a civil war that left at least three million people dead before surrender.
After disappearing from court in 2015, Kanu was tracked down and re-arrested in Kenya in 2021. His relationship with the legal process has remained fraught. Just last month he dismissed his legal team and renewed his argument that the court lacked the authority to try him.
“The court lacks jurisdiction to try me. My charge sheet does not contain any written law in Nigeria,” he told the court shortly before his conviction.
The consequences of IPOB’s enforced stay-at-home orders have been severe. An assessment by Lagos-based consultancy SBM Intelligence earlier this year linked the widespread violence and disruptions to at least 700 deaths and economic losses estimated at 7.6 trillion naira, the equivalent of about 5.3 billion dollars.
In a separate international case, another Nigerian separatist figure, Simon Ekpa, was convicted in Finland in September. Finnish authorities found him guilty of participating in a terrorist group, public incitement to commit a crime for terrorist purposes and aggravated tax fraud, handing him a six-year prison sentence.
