Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court in Abuja has found Nnamdi Kanu, the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), guilty on all seven amended terrorism charges brought by the Federal Government of Nigeria.
The convictions centred on Kanu’s pre-2021 broadcasts from Radio Biafra, where he operated in exile after jumping bail in 2017.
Delivering judgment in a tense courtroom, parts of which were broadcast live on national television, on Thursday, Justice Omotosho held that Kanu crossed the line from protected political speech into incitement and terrorism under Nigeria’s Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act.
Count 1: Act of terrorism against the Federal Republic of Nigeria The court ruled that Kanu’s broadcast threatening that “people will die” and “the world would be at a standstill” if he were rearrested or harmed constituted a direct terrorist threat intended to intimidate the public and compel the government to act (or refrain from acting).
Count 2: Issuing threats to enforce illegal sit-at-home orders Justice Omotosho found that Kanu’s repeated directives for total lockdowns in southeastern Nigeria, often enforced violently by IPOB-affiliated groups, amounted to coercive threats that paralyzed economic activity and instilled widespread fear.
Count 3: Membership and leadership of a proscribed organization: The court affirmed that Kanu continued to direct IPOB after its 2017 proscription (initially under the Buhari administration and upheld thereafter), thereby committing an offence under the terrorism law.
Count 4 and 5: Inciting the killing of security personnel
Count 6 – Making a broadcast in Nigeria against the federal government, where he ordered members of IPOB to manufacture Bombs and other explosives.
The judge also ruled that Kanu can be safely described as “an international terrorist” with his directive to people to attack foreign embassies in Nigeria and kill the British High Commissioner.
The judge said Kanu, who claimed to be a freedom fighter, has done more harm than good to even his own people, saying Kanu is a terrorist and must be treated as such.
Kanu’s case has been one of Nigeria’s most politically charged trials: arrested in 2015 on treasonable felony charges, granted bail in 2017 on health grounds, after which he fled following a military raid on his home and was rearrested in Kenya in June 2021 and extraordinarily rendered back to Nigeria, an action later criticized by a UN Human Rights Council working.
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