Nigeria convicts Biafran separatist leader Nnamdi Kanu for 'terrorism' / Photo: STEFAN HEUNIS - AFP/File
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Nigeria convicts Biafran separatist leader Nnamdi Kanu for 'terrorism'
A Nigerian court on Thursday convicted Biafran separatist leader Namdi Kanu for "terrorism" after a legal drama spanning a decade.
Kanu, leader of the banned group the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), has long advocated for the independence of southeastern Nigeria, alleging the mistreatment of the Igbo ethnic group.
Calls for Biafran independence date back many years.
Civil war raged in Nigeria from 1967 until 1970 between the government and the so-called Republic of Biafra, a secessionist state which had declared independence.
It claimed the lives of tens of thousands of Nigerian soldiers and led to between 500,000 to two million starvation deaths among Biafrans, according to various estimates.
"His intention was quite clear as he believed in violence. These threats of violence were nothing but terrorist acts," judge James Omotosho said.
Omotosho convicted Kanu "on all the seven counts" he faced.
The verdict was handed in Kanu's absence as the judge ordered him to be thrown out of court after an outburst during which he accused the judge of ignorance of the law.
Kanu refused to call defence witnesses and dismissed his lawyers to act as his own counsel and claimed there were no charges against him.
Kanu, a dual Nigerian-British citizen, also said the court did not have the jurisdiction to try him.
The judge said the court had no choice but to "rely on the uncontroverted evidence of the prosecution".
He described Kanu's behaviour during the final days of the trial as "very cocky, arrogant" and that his boasting that "no court can convict him...is a direct affront on the power of the courts".
Kanu had long advocated independence via the London-based Radio Biafra. He drew the attention of the Nigerian government in 2015 when he said "we need guns and we need bullets".
IPOB rejected the notion that it was a literal call for arms. Following mass pro-Biafran protests that same year -- the first since the civil war -- Kanu was arrested while visiting Nigeria.
He skipped bail in 2017 and fled the country after a military raid on his home. He was extradited from Kenya in 2021, in what his lawyers said was an illegal abduction.
IPOB has been accused of violently enforcing regular "sit-at-home" orders that shut down markets, travel and schools across the southeast as a form of economic protest after Kanu's re-arrest in 2021.
IPOB has denied enforcing the protests violently, blaming criminals for doing so.
R.Vandevelde--JdB
