🔗 Share this article

In Nigeria, a court has ruled against separatist leader Nnamdi Kanu on terrorism offenses ten years following his initial detainment.

The presiding judge affirmed that Kanu aired multiple transmissions encouraging hostilities and fatal acts within his campaign for a separate state in south-east Nigeria, referred to as Biafra.

He was found culpable on all seven charges he confronted—encompassing terror-related acts, treasonous activities, and participation with a banned separatist movement.

Emergence of a Separatist Figure

Previously a relatively obscure personality, Kanu's popularity escalated in 2009 when he started Radio Biafra, a station that called for sovereignty for the Igbo people, broadcast to Nigeria from London.

Though he grew up in the south-eastern part of Nigeria, where he attended the University of Nsukka, Kanu moved to the UK before completing his studies and obtained British citizenship.

In 2014, he established the Indigenous People Of Biafra (Ipob), an organization demanding self-rule.

Ban and Militant Actions

Ipob was banned as a terror group in 2017. The group's militant faction—the Eastern Security Network—has been accused of murders and other acts of aggression in the past few years.

Delivering his ruling, Presiding Judge James Omotosho stated: "The defendant knew what he was doing, he was bent on executing these intimidations without consideration to his own people."

"Based on the undeniable evidence, it is evident that the defendant carried out preparatory actions of terror."

"He was given the duty to explain himself but did not manage to do so."

Reaction and Judicial Process

Kanu is a popular figure in his movement's stronghold in the south-east, but response to the verdict there has thus far been subdued.

During proceedings ahead of the ruling, Kanu insisted that the trial could not continue because he had not yet filed his concluding statement, accusing the presiding officer of partiality and not understanding the law.

This ruling was delivered after Kanu had been forcibly removed from the courtroom for disruptive behaviour.

Arrest History

Kanu was initially detained in October 2015 but he jumped bail in 2017 and departed the country after a army operation on his home. The court later cancelled his bail in March 2019 and he was detained again in 2021 in Kenya.

Historical Context

The calls for Biafran independence trace back decades.

In 1967 leaders of the Igbo community declared a Biafran state, but after a devastating internal conflict, which led to the deaths of up to a one million people, the independence uprising was quelled.