Following the life sentence given to its leader Nnamdi Kanu, IPOB has insisted it remains committed to peaceful self-determination and condemned the terrorism conviction as unjust.
The Indigenous People of Biafra on Friday reaffirmed its commitment to peaceful self-determination after a Nigerian court sentenced its leader, Nnamdi Kanu, to life imprisonment for terrorism, a conviction the separatist group condemned, arguing that no weapons and “no attack plan” were ever found on him and that he had not violated Nigerian or international law.
IPOB spokesperson Emma Powerful said, “We reaffirm our commitment to peaceful advocacy, international law and the pursuit of a United Nations-supervised referendum,” while rejecting allegations that Kanu orchestrated violent stay-at-home orders, bomb-making guidance and acts of terrorism.
Judge James Omotosho, who delivered the sentence, stated that the “right to self-determination is a political right,” but stressed that “any self-determination not done according to the constitution of Nigeria is illegal.”
IPOB also claimed that violence in the Southeast “is politically manufactured,” distancing Kanu—detained for years—from the unrest, even as another separatist figure, Simon Ekpa, was recently convicted in Finland on terrorism-related charges.