Nnamdi Kanu's lawyer to appeal the life sentence handed down to his client earlier today

NNAMDI Kanu's lawyer Aloy Ejimakor has announced that his client will appeal the life imprisonment sentence delivered on him today by Justice James Omotosho of the federal high court in Abuja.

Highly controversial, Mr Kanu, the leader of the separatist group the Indigenous People of Biafra (Ipob), has been campaigning for the recreation of the independent republic of Biafra which broke away from Nigeria between July 1967 and January 1970 during the civil war. His campaign, which has led to the phenomenal growth of Ipob, has set him at odds with the Nigerian government who him arrested and put on trial for treason.

While the case was still pending, Mr Kanu was granted bail in April 2017 on health grounds but skipped his bail after flouting the conditions given to him by the court and fled Nigeria. In a dramatic development, in June 2021, Mr Kanu was abducted in Kenya and flown to Nigeria, where he has since been arrayed in court in Abuja, with fresh charges added to the pending ones.

Today, the case finally closed with Justice Omotosho finding Mr Kanu guilty on all seven counts of terrorism filed against him. Delivering his judgment, the judge described Mr Kanu as a terrorist whose actions have led to bloodshed and destabilisation across the southeast geo-political zone.

He added that Mr Kanu, who portrayed himself as a defender of his people, has instead endangered lives and national security. Furthermore, the judge ruled that the prosecution presented credible and sufficient evidence to prove the case against Mr Kanu, noting that he failed to enter a defence, choosing instead to rest his case on the prosecution’s evidence.

Justice Omotosho said: “The court finds that the defendant, Nnamdi Kanu, is an international terrorist and must be treated accordingly."

In a swift response, however, Mr Ejimakor, who was at the court as a consultant, said they were heading to the upper court. He argued that a man cannot be convicted for mere spoken words, questioning why that should be the case at the federal high court.

Mr Ejimakor said: “What kind of precedent is being laid here? We are heading to the Court of Appeal. The Court of Appeal is the only court in this country, or the next court in this country that sits as a jury.

"We are going to approach justices there to check out what happened in court today. And we are pretty sure the justices will agree with us that today was the symbol of the travesty of justice that everybody has been suspecting.”

“If the Court of Appeal disagrees with us, we head to the Supreme Court. Nnamdi Kanu is not going to stand convicted. He’s going to get overturned. This is the only day I have witnessed a man being convicted for mere pronouncements, just for what he said from his mouth, not what he did with his own hands.

“The verdict is not consistent with the evidence laid before the court. The sentence is overbroad, cruel and unusual. How can you convict a man for making a mere broadcast from a location that was never named and he never tied that broadcast to any single incident of violence, or even someone slapping someone, not to talk of terrorism.”