BREAKING: Court sentences Nnamdi Kanu to life imprisonment

A Federal High Court in Abuja, presided over by Justice James Omotosho, has sentenced the leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, to life imprisonment.

The court pronounced the sentence after it convicted Kanu on all the five counts in the terrorism charges preferred against him.

Justice Omotosho, in a well-considered judgment, held that Kanu deserved to die by hanging, given the gravity of his offence but that he tempered justice with mercy for two reasons.

The judge explained that he was lenient with Kanu because death sentence was going into extinction worldwide.

He said he also took cognisance of the fact that the Holy books recommends mercy.

Specifically, the court jailed Kanu for life on counts 1, 4 and 6 of the terrorism charges pressed against him.

For count 3, the court imposed a 20-year imprisonment term, while count 5 attracted a five-year jail sentence.

The judge however ordered that he should be kept in a facility suitable for his behaviour as Kuje Correctional Centre would not serve the purpose his sentence was meant to achieve.

He further ordered that the convict must not be allowed to go near any electronic device except he is monitored closely by the Office of the National Security Adviser.

He ordered that Kanu should be kept in protective custody in any part of the country.

Omotosho also held that the transmitter Kanu used for his broadcasts be forfeited to the Federal Government.

He said if there is no appeal in the case, other equipment used by Kanu should be forfeited to the government.

Kanu has been on trial since 2015.

He was convicted and jailed on Thursday, November 20, 2025.