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A Nigerian court has found guilty separatist leader Nnamdi Kanu on terror-related offenses ten years following his first detainment.

The presiding judge affirmed that Kanu had made multiple broadcasts to incite violence and fatal acts as part of his campaign for an independent nation in Nigeria's south-eastern region, known as Biafra.

He was found culpable on all seven counts he faced—including terror-related acts, treason, and involvement with a banned secessionist group.

Emergence of a Separatist Figure

Once a little-known personality, Kanu's popularity surged in 2009 when he started Radio Biafra, a broadcaster that advocated sovereignty for the Igbo people, broadcast to Nigeria from London.

Although he grew up in south-eastern Nigeria, where he attended the University of Nsukka, Kanu relocated to the UK prior to graduating and acquired British citizenship.

In 2014, he set up the Indigenous People Of Biafra (Ipob), an organization calling for self-rule.

Prohibition and Armed Actions

Ipob was proscribed as a terrorist organisation in 2017. The group's militant faction—the Eastern Security Network—has been accused of killings and other acts of violence in the past few years.

Issuing his ruling, Presiding Judge James Omotosho said: "Mr Kanu was aware of what he was doing, he was determined to carrying out these threats without consideration to his own people."

"Based on the undeniable proof, it is clear that the defendant performed preliminary acts of terrorism."

"He was given the obligation to explain himself but failed to do so."

Reaction and Legal Process

Kanu is a popular figure in his group's stronghold in south-eastern Nigeria, but response to the decision there has so far been muted.

During proceedings ahead of the judgement, Kanu insisted that proceedings could not continue because he had not yet submitted his final written address, alleging the presiding officer of partiality and misinterpreting the law.

This ruling was announced after Kanu had been forcibly removed from the courtroom for disruptive conduct.

Detainment History

Kanu was first arrested in October 2015 but he violated bail conditions in 2017 and left the nation after a army operation on his home. The court later revoked his bail in March 2019 and he was detained again in 2021 in Kenya.

Past Context

The calls for Biafra's sovereignty date back decades.

In 1967 Igbo leaders proclaimed a Biafran state, but after a devastating civil war, which led to the deaths of up to a one million people, the secessionist rebellion was quelled.