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A Nigerian court has convicted independence advocate Nnamdi Kanu on terrorism charges a decade after his first arrest.

The court stated that Kanu had made multiple transmissions promoting hostilities and fatal acts within his campaign for a separate state in Nigeria's south-eastern region, referred to as Biafra.

Kanu has been convicted on each of the seven charges he confronted—including terrorism, treasonous activities, and involvement with a banned separatist movement.

Emergence of a Separatist Figure

Once a little-known figure, Kanu's popularity escalated in 2009 when he launched Radio Biafra, a station that called for an independent state for the Igbo people, transmitted to Nigeria from London.

Though he grew up in south-eastern Nigeria, where he attended the University of Nsukka, Kanu moved to the UK before graduating and obtained British nationality.

In 2014, he set up the Indigenous People Of Biafra (Ipob), a movement calling for independence.

Prohibition and Militant 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 additional incidents of aggression in the past few years.

Delivering his ruling, Judge James Omotosho stated: "Mr Kanu was aware of what he was doing, he was bent on carrying out these intimidations without consideration to his own people."

"From the undeniable proof, it is clear that the accused carried out preliminary acts of terrorism."

"He had the obligation to clarify himself but did not manage to do so."

Reaction and Legal Process

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

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

This ruling was delivered after Kanu had been forcibly removed from the courtroom for unruly conduct.

Detainment Background

He was initially detained in October 2015 but he violated bail conditions in 2017 and left the nation after a military raid on his home. Judicial authorities later revoked his bail in March 2019 and he was detained again in 2021 in Kenya.

Past Context

The calls for Biafran independence trace back many years.

In 1967 Igbo leaders declared a state of Biafra, but after a devastating civil war, which led to the loss of lives of up to a one million people, the independence uprising was defeated.