The leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, on Wednesday, February 4th, filed an appeal challenging his life sentence for a terrorism conviction handed down by the federal high court in Abuja.
The appeal submitted to the court of appeal in Abuja seeks to overturn both the conviction and the sentence imposed on the IPOB leader.
Kanu stated that the court’s judgment was fundamentally flawed, specifically citing the trial judge’s failure to allow an allocutus, a mandatory legal step that permits a defendant to plead for leniency after conviction, just before sentencing.
Kanu is asking the court of appeal to quash his conviction on all counts, set aside the sentences imposed by the federal high court, and enter a verdict of discharge and acquittal in his favour.
According to the reliefs sought, Kanu contended that the entire judgment delivered in charge number FHC/ABJ/CR/383/2015 was flawed and should be reversed in its entirety.
Kanu was re-arraigned by the federal government on a seven-count terrorism charge following his repatriation to Nigeria from Kenya on June 19, 2021.
Justice James Omotosho of the federal high court, Abuja, sentenced Kanu to life imprisonment on November 20, 2025, after finding him guilty on multiple counts of terrorism.
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