Ejimakor broke the news through a terse post on X (formerly Twitter), expressing dismay at what he described as a deliberate attempt to isolate his client. “MAZI NNAMDI KANU has just been moved from DSS Abuja to the correctional facility in Sokoto; so far away from his lawyers, family, loved ones and well-wishers,” the lawyer wrote. The distance between Abuja and Sokoto exceeds 700 kilometres by road, while the journey from Kanu’s homeland in Abia State is well over 1,000 kilometres—an arrangement that will make legal consultations, family visits, and medical attention significantly more difficult and expensive, and logistically challenging.
The transfer follows Wednesday’s judgment by Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court, Abuja, in the seven-count amended charge preferred against Kanu by the Federal Government. After years of legal battles, multiple appeals, an extraordinary rendition from Kenya in June 2021, and several aborted trial attempts, the court finally delivered what the government has long sought: a conviction on the core terrorism allegations.
Delivering a lengthy ruling that lasted several hours, Justice Omotosho pronounced Kanu guilty on six of the seven counts. The IPOB leader was sentenced to life imprisonment on counts one, four, five, and six—charges that centred on alleged acts of terrorism, treasonable felony, and incitement to violence through his broadcasts on Radio Biafra. On count three, he received an additional 20-year term, while count seven attracted a five-year sentence. All sentences are to run concurrently, meaning Kanu will spend the remainder of his natural life behind bars unless higher courts intervene.
In a scathing assessment rarely seen in Nigerian judicial pronouncements, Justice Omotosho described Kanu as “a person who cannot be allowed to remain in the company of sane minds” and labelled him an “international terrorist.” The judge pointed to what he called Kanu’s “violent tendencies” exhibited even inside the courtroom, including repeated outbursts and refusal to recognise the court’s authority, as evidence that the separatist leader posed an ongoing danger to society.
The court held that the prosecution, led by the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation, had proved every element of the offences beyond reasonable doubt. Justice Omotosho noted that Kanu “deliberately refused” to enter a defence or cross-examine prosecution witnesses despite numerous opportunities to do so—a tactical decision Kanu and his legal team had framed as a protest against the court’s legitimacy following his controversial rendition from Kenya. The judge, however, ruled that such refusal amounted to an admission of the allegations by conduct.
Particularly striking were the ancillary orders attached to the conviction. Citing national security concerns, Justice Omotosho directed that Kanu must never be allowed access to any electronic communication device—including mobile phones, laptops, or tablets—except under the direct, physical supervision of the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA). The judge also ordered the immediate forfeiture to the Federal Government of all items recovered from Kanu at the time of his 2021 arrest, including a radio transmitter that prosecutors alleged had been smuggled to him inside the DSS facility to continue his incendiary broadcasts.
Legal observers note that the decision to house Kanu in Sokoto rather than the medium-security Kuje Correctional Centre in Abuja—where he would have remained relatively close to his lawyers and family—appears to flow directly from the judge’s remarks about his perceived dangerousness. By describing Kanu as unsuitable even for Kuje (which already holds several high-profile inmates convicted of terrorism), Justice Omotosho effectively endorsed the most restrictive custodial arrangement possible within Nigeria’s prison system.
For IPOB supporters and many in Igboland, the development represents yet another chapter in what they insist is the political persecution of a man fighting for self-determination. Already, social media platforms popular in the Southeast have seen an outpouring of anger, with some users vowing that the struggle Kanu championed will only intensify. IPOB itself has yet to issue an official statement, but affiliated groups and diaspora organisations have begun mobilising protests and legal challenges.
Kanu’s legal team, meanwhile, has indicated that an appeal is inevitable. Previous rulings—including a 2022 Court of Appeal decision that discharged and acquitted him on jurisdictional and human-rights grounds—were overturned by the Supreme Court in December 2023, which ordered the continuation of the trial. Whether the fresh conviction and the extraordinary post-conviction restrictions will fare better on appeal remains to be seen.
For now, the man who once commanded millions of followers through nightly broadcasts from London finds himself in one of Nigeria’s most remote prisons, cut off from easy contact with the outside world, and facing the prospect of dying in custody. The dramatic fall from grace—or martyrdom, depending on one’s perspective—closes one of the most contentious chapters in Nigeria’s recent history while almost certainly opening several new ones.
As of Thursday evening, neither the Nigerian Correctional Service nor the DSS had officially commented on the transfer, but sources within the security establishment described it as a routine movement of a “high-value, high-risk inmate” to a facility deemed more suitable for his security classification. For Nnamdi Kanu and his movement, however, there is nothing routine about a life sentence served a thousand kilometres away from home.
