On 20 November 2025, a decade-long legal saga that gripped the Federal Republic of Nigeria reached its dramatic conclusion in an Abuja courtroom.
Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Federal High Court.
Born in Abia State in 1967, Nnamdi Kanu held British and Nigerian citizenship. After studying in London, he founded Radio Biafra in 2009 and formally established IPOB in 2012. His central demand was a referendum to restore an independent Republic of Biafra — the state that had collapsed in 1970 after a devastating civil war that claimed more than a million lives.
What began as provocative broadcasts from London grew into one of Nigeria’s gravest internal security crises since that war.
October 2015: Nnamdi Kanu was arrested in Lagos upon returning from the United Kingdom. He faced initial charges of treasonable felony, terrorism, and managing an unlawful society.
Following his arraignment, the case was first assigned to Justice John Tsoho of the Federal High Court.
After eighteen months in detention, a different judge, Justice Binta Nyako, granted him bail on health grounds in April 2017. She set stringent conditions, including a ban on public gatherings and media interviews.
Five months later, a military operation at his family compound in Umuahia forced him to flee. Nigeria proscribed IPOB as a terrorist organisation and issued a bench warrant for its arrest. Nnamdi Kanu remained in exile for nearly four years.
June 2021: He was sensationally re-arrested in Kenya and returned to Nigeria in circumstances later ruled unlawful by a Kenyan High Court.
Back in Abuja, the trial resumed before Justice Binta Nyako. Prosecutors brought an amended seven-count charge under the Terrorism (Prevention) Act — accusing him of inciting violence through broadcasts, directing deadly attacks on security forces, and enforcing criminal sit-at-home orders across the south-east.
The ensuing legal proceedings were characterised by constant change. After Justice Nyako withdrew from the case for a period, it was briefly assigned to Justice Evelyn Anyadike and then Justice Taiwo Taiwo before being transferred to Justice Nyako.
The protracted trial drew repeated international criticism over due process. Twice, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention declared his detention arbitrary.
In a pivotal moment, Justice Taiwo Taiwo struck out eight of the fifteen counts in the original charge sheet in April 2022, citing a lack of jurisdiction. But the Supreme Court of Nigeria later overturned an acquittal granted on the remaining counts, sending the case back for trial on the amended charges.
Finally, the case was transferred to a new judge, Justice James Omotosho.
On 20 November 2025, Justice Omotosho delivered the verdict. After prosecutors presented audio recordings, witness testimony, and evidence linking Kanu’s directives to attacks that claimed hundreds of lives, the court found him guilty on all seven counts.
He received life imprisonment on the most serious terrorism charges, with concurrent sentences of twenty years and five years on lesser counts. The judge noted Nnamdi Kanu’s lack of remorse and the severe threat to national security, yet chose life imprisonment over the death penalty.
Outside the court, Nnamdi Kanu’s lead counsel announced an immediate appeal.
In the south-east, the ruling party deepened existing divisions. Markets remained shuttered in parts of Anambra and Imo states. The federal government called the verdict a just outcome, IPOB maintained its leader was a political prisoner.
Ten years after his first arrest, the legal chapter involving Nnamdi Kanu closed — for now. The man who once addressed millions from a London studio will spend the remainder of his life in Nigerian custody.
However, his supporters have vowed the struggle continues…
