The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has issued a strongly worded press statement accusing the Nigerian judiciary and political establishment of pursuing vendetta against its leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, while failing to contain spreading insecurity across the country.
In the statement signed by Comrade Emma Powerful, IPOB’s Spokesperson and Secretary for Media & Publicity, the group declared that the recent appeal filed by Kanu on 4 February 2026 against his terrorism conviction and life imprisonment has placed “Nigeria’s judiciary and political establishment on trial before history.”
The statement sharply criticised Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court, Abuja, who on 20 November 2025 convicted Kanu on seven terrorism-related counts and sentenced him to life imprisonment on several charges, with additional terms running concurrently.
IPOB described the judgment as “unjust and politically tainted,” alleging that Kanu was convicted “without proof, without allocutus,” and deliberately “exiled” to Sokoto prison—knowing full well that the remote location would severely hamper his access to legal counsel, funding for the appeal, and effective preparation of his defence.
“This was not justice. It was vendetta dressed in robes,” the statement asserted.
The group drew a direct and ironic connection between Kanu’s incarceration and the escalating attacks reportedly being carried out by suspected Fulani terrorists in parts of Yorubaland, particularly in communities in the Southwest.
“While Justice Omotosho busied himself doing the bidding of his APC political masters by jailing an innocent man, the very forces he sought to appease have now carried terror into Yorubaland itself,” IPOB stated.
“Today, communities in Yorubaland are under sustained attack by Fulani terrorists—villages raided, lives lost, ancestral lands violated. The irony is brutal and undeniable: while Omotosho persecuted a man who warned against injustice, injustice has come knocking at his own doorstep.”
The statement reiterated long-standing warnings allegedly issued by Kanu that injustice would not respect ethnicity, religion, or political alliances, and that those who sacrifice truth for political ambition would eventually “reap the whirlwind.”
“Those warnings are no longer prophecy—they are unfolding reality,” IPOB declared.
Addressing President Bola Ahmed Tinubu directly, the group posed a pointed question:
“What has Nigeria gained by jailing a truth-teller while insecurity metastasizes across the land?”
Quoting Scripture—“Touch not my anointed, and do my prophet no harm”—IPOB warned that nations that disregard such spiritual admonitions “eventually learn them the hard way.”
The group further accused those advising the current administration to maintain Kanu’s detention of “not defending Nigeria” but “accelerating its collapse,” arguing that prolonged injustice would continue to “travel, mutate, and ultimately consume everyone.”
IPOB concluded with an uncompromising demand:
“Nigeria will know no peace until justice is restored. The immediate release of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu is not a concession—it is a necessity.”
The statement ended with a solemn declaration: “History is watching. Events are testifying. The warning has been given.”
Background Context
Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), filed a Notice of Appeal at the Court of Appeal, Abuja, on 4 February 2026, challenging his conviction and life sentences. The appeal contains 22 grounds and raises serious allegations of procedural irregularities, denial of fair hearing, evidential failure, reliance on unpleaded facts, and convictions under repealed statutes.
The IPOB press statement reflects the group’s long-held position that Kanu’s prosecution and continued detention are politically motivated and that his warnings about national insecurity have been vindicated by ongoing violence in different regions of the country.
The statement comes amid continued reports of farmer-herder clashes, banditry, and terrorist incursions in several parts of Nigeria, including the Southwest, where local communities have repeatedly raised alarms over attacks on villages and displacement of residents.
As of now, neither the presidency, the Attorney-General of the Federation, nor the judiciary has issued an official response to the specific claims and accusations contained in the IPOB release.
