Nigerian Separatist Leader Nnamdi Kanu Convicted on Terrorism Charges

Thu Nov 20 2025 19:17:23 GMT+0200 (Eastern European Standard Time)

Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, has been convicted of terrorism and treason, facing up to the death penalty as sentencing awaits.

A Nigerian court has convicted Nnamdi Kanu, a prominent separatist leader advocating for the Biafran independence, on multiple charges including terrorism and treason. The court's decision follows a prolonged legal battle, with Kanu facing serious allegations of inciting violence and killings to promote his cause. The ruling has produced a muted reaction in his support base, and the eventual sentencing could escalate tensions in Nigeria.

A court in Nigeria has found separatist leader Nnamdi Kanu guilty of terrorism following a decade-long legal case full of drama.

The court said it was satisfied that Kanu had made a series of broadcasts to incite violence and killings, as part of his campaign for a separate state in south-east Nigeria, known as Biafra.

Kanu has been convicted on all seven charges he faced - as well as terrorism, they included treason and involvement with an outlawed movement.

The court has adjourned, with the judge expected to hand down a sentencing later on Thursday. Kanu could face the death penalty, although this is rarely carried out in Nigeria.

Kanu always denied the charges and challenged the court's jurisdiction to put him on trial.

Once a relatively obscure figure, he came to national prominence in 2009 when he started Radio Biafra, a station that called for an independent state for the Igbo people, broadcast to Nigeria from London.

Though he grew up in south-eastern Nigeria, where he attended the University of Nsukka, Kanu moved to the UK before graduating, and acquired British nationality.

In 2014, he set up the Indigenous People Of Biafra (Ipob), a movement demanding independence. Ipob was banned as a terrorist organisation in 2017. Its armed wing - the Eastern Security Network - has been accused of killings and other acts of violence in recent years.

Delivering his judgement, Judge James Omotosho said: 'Mr Kanu knew what he was doing, he was bent on carrying out these threats without consideration to his own people.'

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.

The judgement was delivered after Kanu had been forcibly removed from the courtroom for unruly behaviour. He was first arrested in October 2015 but had jumped bail in 2017 and left the country after a military raid on his home. His lawyers say he was detained in Kenya and forcibly returned to Nigeria.

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 up to a million people, the secessionist rebellion was defeated. Many Igbo people continue to feel that they are marginalised by the Nigerian state however, it is not clear how many are in favour of independence.