Biafra campaigner Nnamdi Kanu sentenced to life in jail

The Federal High Court in Abuja on Thursday convicted Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Independent People of Biafra, who has campaigned for years for a separate Biafra state, of terrorism and sentenced him to life imprisonment.

Delivering judgment, Justice James Omotosho said he should ordinarily impose the death penalty but chose leniency. The Nigerian government, through its lawyers, sought the death penalty.

The judge sentenced Kanu to life in prison on counts 1, 4, 5, and 6, “instead of death sentence.” For count 3, he imposed 20 years without an option of fine, and for count 7, five years’ imprisonment. All sentences will run concurrently.

Justice Omotosho also ordered that Kanu be kept in protective custody and barred him from using digital devices.

Kanu always denied the charges and challenged the court’s jurisdiction. At the start of the trial he sacked his lawyers but refused to defend himself.

He was not in court when the verdict was delivered, after being removed for interrupting the judge and insisting his counter motion be adopted.

Conviction and sentencing

Before sentencing, the judge had already convicted Kanu for terrorism-related offences, including membership of the proscribed IPOB and the illegal importation of a radio transmitter. He ruled that the prosecution proved its case “beyond reasonable doubt” and noted that Kanu offered no defence despite multiple opportunities.

Kanu was found guilty on all seven charges. The judge said the prosecution had established that he carried out terrorist acts, issued illegal stay-at-home orders in the South-east for years, incited violence, taught people to make bombs for attacks on government facilities, and remained a member of a terrorist organisation.

According to Omotosho, Kanu made numerous broadcasts threatening the federal government and citizens with violence to achieve Biafra’s independence.

“The defendant knew what he was doing while making these violent threats. The defendant was also bent on achieving his objective with violence and did not mind if his own people died,” he said.

He cited a video from the Third World Igbo Congress in Los Angeles where Kanu called for violence, noting that “most of the participants were quite alarmed that they asked him if he had considered the option of peaceful dialogue to which the defendant was adamant.”

The judge also referenced Kanu’s call-in broadcasts during the EndSARS protests in October 2020, where he allegedly urged listeners to burn government facilities, including police stations, and kill security officers and their families.

“His words were not mere words,” Omotosho said, linking the incitement to widespread killings and destruction, including 128 police officers, 37 military personnel, 10 other security officers, 164 police stations, and nine INEC offices.

“The defendant had an evil intention to wreak havoc on the people and government of Nigeria… He turned himself into a tyrant who can kill at will. The defendant cannot be allowed to remain in a sane human society.”

He also said Kanu could be described as “an international terrorist” for inciting attacks on foreign diplomatic officials, including calling for the killing of the British High Commissioner.

The judge cited several broadcasts in which Kanu reiterated his IPOB membership, despite a 2017 Federal High Court judgment proscribing the group and declaring it a terrorist organisation. By continuing to identify as a member, the judge ruled, Kanu committed a terrorism offence.

Omotosho further said Kanu’s claim of being a freedom fighter did not excuse breaking the law.

“Any self-determination not done in accordance with the rules and laws of the country is illegal,” he said. He described the defence witnesses as evasive and praised the prosecution’s witnesses as “witnesses of truth.”

The prosecution accused Kanu of issuing threats that citizens who disobeyed his sit-at-home order should “write his/her will,” leading to the shutdown of banks, schools, markets, malls, and fuel stations across the South-east.

It also alleged he ordered attacks on security operatives, encouraged the manufacture of explosive devices, and illegally imported a Tram 50L radio transmitter hidden inside a container of used household goods.

Justice Omotosho determined that the government proved every allegation.