• Found guilty of seven charges
Kanu was not in court when the verdict was delivered, after being removed for unruly behaviour
From our news desk, Benin
A Federal High Court of Nigeria sitting in Abuja on Thursday, 20 November, 2025 has slammed a life imprisonment sentence on Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the separatists group, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
Pronouncing the sentence, the presiding judge, Justice James Omotosho said the court was convinced from all available evidence that Kanu in his campaign for the cessation of the South-East region from Nigeria to become the Indigenous State of Biafra, made a series of broadcasts to incite violence and killings.
File Photo: Detained IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu
The separatist agitation leader was convicted on all seven charges filed against him by the Federal Government which includes terrorism, treason and involvement with an outlawed movement; the IPOB, threatening and killing security operatives, burning properties, concealment, and importing an unregistered radio transmitter.
“The defendant enforced the order of Sit-at-Home in the South East. Saying there will be a complete shutdown of Biafraland. Saying I know some of you are foolish, trying to open your shop around 12 noon. If you do that, we will burn you in that shop.”
Justice Omotosho held that Kanu’s orders were unconstitutional.
“This is an unconstitutional act that is subversive, a notorious act where people in the South East are made to sit at home, everywhere is deserted, even the farmlands.”
The Court also held that Kanu, who said he is the founder and Director of Radio and Television of Biafra, made a broadcast to the effect that the Army of Nigeria will die and that everything called Nigeria will perish in Biafra.
But Kanu had always denied the charges and challenged the court’s jurisdiction to put him on trial.
Delivering his judgement, James Omotosho was quoted in media reports to have said: “Mr Kanu knew what he was doing, he was bent on carrying out these threats without consideration to his own people.
“From the uncontroverted evidence, it is clear that the defendant carried out a preparatory act of terrorism.
“He had the duty to explain himself but failed to do so.”
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The unruly behavior of Kanu is not new, the judge says. “We have seen instances where the defendant beats his clients, shutting them up.”
Awomolo: S 266 ( 1A), says it is in the interest of justice that the court should function according to the law.
Consequently, the Judge ordered that the proceedings continue without Kanu after describing his behaviour in court as unruly.
The decision followed the dismissal of three fresh motions filed by the IPOB leader, which the court deemed unmeritorious.
Kanu had protested during the ruling, insisting that the court could not proceed as he had not filed his final written address.
He raised his voice in court, demanding, “‘Which law states that you can charge me on an unwritten law? Show me. Omotosho, where is the law? Any judgment declared in this Court is a complete rubbish.”
He accused Justice Omotosho of bias and that he lacked understanding of the law.
Justice Omotosho delivered judgement after Kanu had been forcibly removed from the courtroom on his orders, for unruly behaviour.
While a defendant has a constitutional right to be present during trial, repeated misconduct can allow proceedings to continue in their absence, the Judge stated.
“If a defendant misconducts himself or acts in an unruly manner during the course of his trial, his trial can be conducted in his absence,” he said.
The judge says he appealed to Kanu severally, but “in his usual manner, he refused to comport himself. Nobody is above the law. If we allow people to act how they please, it will out rule the sanctity of the court.”
The judge added that Kanu had indicated he would not present a defence, and that Thursday’s session was for judgment and possible sentencing.
He was first arrested in October 2015 but he jumped bail in 2017 and left the country after a military raid on his home. The court later revoked his bail in March 2019 and he was re-arrested in 2021.
Upon his return, the charges were expanded to 15 counts, including terrorism and incitement to violence.
Kanu’s defense has repeatedly challenged the trial’s legitimacy. They argue that fundamental legal and procedural errors, including possible violations of international extradition law and jurisdictional rules, undermine the prosecution’s case.
His lawyers say he was detained in Kenya, which has not commented on whether it played a role in his deportation to Nigeria.
In 2022, an appeal court ordered that the charges against him be dropped, saying he had been illegally arrested abroad, but this ruling was overturned by the Supreme Court the following year.
Once relatively unknown, he came to national limelight in 2009 when he started Radio Biafra, a station which called for an independent state for the Igbo people, broadcasting to Nigeria from London.
The roundly embattled IPOB leader was born and bred in the south-eastern region of Nigeria, attended the University of Nsukka, but relocated to the UK, graduated, and acquired British nationality.
In 2014, he established the Indigenous People Of Biafra (IPOB), a group demanding independence from the State of Nigeria.
IPOB was then outlawed by the Federal Government of Nigeria as a terrorist organisation in 2017.
With its armed wing; the Eastern Security Network largely held responsible for killings and other acts of violence in the eastern region in recent years.
The calls for Biafran independence date back many years.
In 1967 Igbo leaders declared a Biafran state, but after a brutal civil war, which led to the deaths of millions of people, the secessionist rebellion was defeated.
Yet, many Igbo people continue to feel that they are marginalised by the Nigerian state.
Kanu is a popular figure in his movement’s heartland in south-eastern Nigeria, but reaction to the verdict there has so far been muted.
Adegboyega Awomolo, SAN, represented the Federal Government, while Nnamdi Kanu represented himself.
Additional reporting from BBC Igbo’s Ebere Ekeopara in Enugu
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