ABUJA, NIGERIA (AP) — A Nigerian court on Thursday convicted separatist leader Nnamdi Kanu of seven terrorism-related charges.
Kanu founded the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), which has been accused
of terrorism and extra-judicial killings in the country’s eastern region, and called for the creation of an independent state out of southeastern Nigeria.
The charges against him include carrying out acts of terrorism, issuing and violently enforcing stay-at-home orders that still bring the southeastern region to a halt every Monday, giving guidance on how to make bombs to be used on government facilities, and incitement.
Kanu has sought to revive the short-lived Biafra, a seceded region of Nigeria between 1967 and 1970, which sparked the Nigerian Civil War during that period. At least 3 million people were killed before the Biafran troops surrendered.
Kanu was re-arrested in 2021 and brought back from Kenya after initially failing to appear in court in 2015.
“The right to self-determination is a political right. Any self-determination not done according to the constitution of Nigeria is illegal," Judge James Omotosho said.
A Lagos-based geopolitical consultancy, SBM Intelligence, earlier this year reported that the violent enforcement of the stay-at-home orders had resulted in at least 700 deaths and cost the country 7.6 trillion naira ($5.3 billion).
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Adetayo reported from Dakar, Senegal
