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A Federal High Court in Abuja has convicted Biafra agitator Nnamdi Kanu on charges related to acts of terrorism.
Justice James Omotosho, while delivering judgment in Kanu’s terrorism trial, ruled that he is guilty on counts one, two and three of the seven-count charge brought by the Department of State Services (DSS).
Justice Omotosho stated that the threats of violence, killings and the declaration of sit-at-home orders in the South East—contained in several of Kanu’s broadcasts—amount to acts of terrorism.
Nnamdi Kanu rose to prominence in 2009 when he launched Radio Biafra, a station broadcasting from London that advocated for an independent state for the Igbo people.
Although he grew up in south-eastern Nigeria and attended the University of Nsukka, Kanu moved to the UK before completing his studies and later obtained British citizenship.
He founded the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) in 2014, a movement pushing for secession. Ipob was declared a terrorist organisation in 2017, and its armed wing, the Eastern Security Network, has been accused of involvement in killings and other violent acts in recent years.
In his judgment, Judge James Omotosho stated: “Mr Kanu knew what he was doing, he was bent on carrying out these threats without consideration to his own people.
From the incontroverted evidence, it is clear that the defendant carried out preparatory act of terrorism.
He had the duty to explain himself, but failed to do so.”
Kanu remains a highly influential figure in the south-east, the stronghold of his movement, though reactions to the verdict have so far been subdued, according to the BBC’s Igbo service.
Before the ruling, Kanu argued in court that the proceedings could not go on because he had not filed his final written address, accusing the judge of bias and of “not understanding the law”.
The judgment was delivered after he was forcibly removed from the courtroom for unruly conduct.
Kanu was first arrested in October 2015, but he fled the country in 2017 after jumping bail during a military raid on his home. His bail was revoked in March 2019, and he was re-arrested in Kenya in 2021.
The agitation for Biafran independence has deep historical roots. In 1967, Igbo leaders declared the independent state of Biafra, but the secession was crushed after a devastating civil war that claimed up to a million lives.
