The Supreme Court in Nigeria has declined to order the release of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, from detention.
The separatist leader has been in detention since 2021 despite a Court of Appeal judgment on October 13, 2022, ordering his release. British national Nnamdi Kanu was arrested in Kenya and forcefully extradited to Nigeria in June 2021. He has been wanted by Nigerian authorities since 2015 when he was charged with terrorism offences.
In protest against Kanu’s arrest, IPOB, a secessionist group which has been proscribed as a terrorist organization in Nigeria, declared a weekly work strike in the southeast flank observed every Monday. The work stoppage was to pressure the Nigerian government to release Kanu from detention, but Kanu ended the work strike in July.
Many south easterners were disappointed, believing that the Supreme Court would set Kanu free. The court on Friday morning (today) overruled the order of the Court of Appeal in Abuja, which ordered Kanu’s release on bail.
The apex court ruled that although the Nigerian government unlawfully arrested Kanu, the separatist leader must face trial for the terrorism charges heaped upon him.
—Ezinwanne Onwuka reports for TruthNigeria from Abuja.
