A Nigerian court has found guilty separatist leader Nnamdi Kanu on terror-related charges ten years following his first detainment.
The court stated that Kanu aired multiple transmissions encouraging violence and killings within his movement for a separate state in Nigeria's south-eastern region, known as Biafra.
He was convicted on all seven charges he confronted—encompassing terror-related acts, treason, and participation with an outlawed secessionist group.
Emergence of a Separatist Figure
Once a little-known figure, Kanu's popularity escalated in 2009 when he launched Radio Biafra, a broadcaster that advocated an independent state for the Igbo people, transmitted to Nigeria from London.
Although 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), a movement calling for independence.
Prohibition and Militant Actions
Ipob was banned as a terrorist organisation in 2017. Its armed wing—the Eastern Security Network—has been implicated of killings and other acts of aggression in recent years.
Issuing his ruling, Judge James Omotosho stated: "Mr Kanu knew what he was doing, he was bent on carrying out these intimidations without consideration to his own people."
"From the incontrovertible proof, it is evident that the defendant performed preliminary acts of terrorism."
"He had the obligation to clarify himself but did not manage to do so."
Reaction and Judicial Process
Kanu remains a popular figure in his movement's stronghold in south-eastern Nigeria, but response to the decision there has so far been subdued.
In court ahead of the ruling, Kanu argued that the trial could not continue because he had not yet filed his concluding statement, alleging the judge of bias and misinterpreting the law.
The judgement was delivered after Kanu had been forcibly removed from the court for unruly conduct.
Detainment Background
He was initially detained in October 2015 but he violated bail conditions in 2017 and departed the country after a army operation on his home. The court later revoked his bail in March 2019 and he was detained again in 2021 in Kenya.
Historical Background
The calls for Biafran independence date back many years.
In 1967 leaders of the Igbo community declared a state of Biafra, but after a brutal civil war, which led to the loss of lives of up to a one million people, the independence uprising was defeated.
