Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court has handed Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), a life sentence after a decade-long trial.
Justice Omotosho issued the ruling on Thursday, four years after Kanu was seized in Kenya under disputed circumstances and returned to Nigeria.
He was later arraigned on seven terrorism-related charges.
The judgment was delivered without Kanu present after he insisted the court would not give a verdict on the terrorism case filed against him by the Federal Government.
Following the disruption that followed, the judge instructed security personnel to remove him from the courtroom for “unruly behaviour.”
Omotosho said various broadcasts by Kanu on Radio Biafra amounted to terrorism, noting that his “rhetoric and intention were anchored on violence.”
The judge added that Kanu’s sit-at-home directive across the South-East qualified as terrorism, insisting that the order violated the freedom of movement of residents in the region.
Justice Omotosho stressed that the IPOB leader lacked any constitutional authority to impose such a directive.
According to the judge, evidence before the court showed Kanu engaged in preparatory acts of terrorism through his broadcasts, during which he “ordered the killing of police officers and military officers.”
The court concluded that Kanu was guilty of committing terrorist acts against the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
He was convicted on all seven counts despite pleading not guilty.
