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A Nigerian court has found guilty independence advocate Nnamdi Kanu for terror-related offenses ten years after his initial arrest.

Judicial authorities declared that Kanu aired a series of broadcasts encouraging hostilities and fatal acts within his campaign for a separate state in south-east Nigeria, known as Biafra.

Kanu has been convicted on all seven counts he confronted—encompassing terrorism, treason, and participation with a banned separatist movement.

Rise of a Separatist Leader

Once a little-known figure, Kanu's following surged in 2009 when he started Radio Biafra, a broadcaster that called for an independent state for the Igbo people, broadcast to Nigeria from London.

Though he grew up in the south-eastern part of Nigeria, where he attended the University of Nsukka, Kanu moved to the UK prior to completing his studies and acquired British citizenship.

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

Prohibition and Armed Activities

Ipob was proscribed as a terror group in 2017. The group's militant faction—the Eastern Security Network—has been accused of killings and other acts of violence in the past few years.

Delivering his judgement, Judge James Omotosho said: "Mr Kanu was aware of what he was doing, he was determined to executing these intimidations without regard to his own people."

"From the undeniable proof, it is evident that the defendant carried out preliminary acts of terror."

"He was given the duty to clarify himself but failed to do so."

Reaction and Legal Process

Kanu remains a influential leader in his movement's heartland in south-eastern Nigeria, but response to the verdict there has thus far been muted.

During proceedings prior to the ruling, Kanu argued that proceedings could not proceed because he had not yet submitted his final written address, alleging the presiding officer of partiality and misinterpreting the law.

The judgement was delivered after Kanu had been forcibly removed from the court for unruly behaviour.

Arrest History

Kanu was first arrested in October 2015 but he violated bail conditions in 2017 and departed the nation after a army operation on his home. The court later revoked his bail in March 2019 and he was detained again in 2021 in Kenya.

Past Background

Demands for Biafra's sovereignty trace back decades.

In 1967 Igbo leaders declared a Biafran state, but after a devastating civil war, which led to the deaths of up to a one million people, the secessionist rebellion was quelled.