ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — A Nigerian court Friday rejected a request to free a separatist leader, ruling that prosecutors had presented enough evidence for him to face terrorism charges brought by the government.
The court ruled that the Nigerian government has established enough evidence for a case against Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the banned Indigenous People of Biafra, or IPOB, separatist group that seeks independence for Nigeria’s southeastern region.
The verdict comes more than a year after the country’s Supreme Court reinstated terrorism charges against Kanu. In the lower court, Kanu argued that the government had no case against him.
Kanu, who holds British citizenship, has been in and out of detention since 2015, when he was first arrested and charged with terrorism and treason. He jumped bail in 2017 and was rearrested in 2021 after being lured to another African country by Nigerian intelligence personnel.
Kanu has denied any wrongdoing, and his supporters accuse the government of unjustly targeting him to stifle the group’s separatist campaign.
The IPOB campaign for an independent state of Biafra follows the short-lived Republic of Biafra, which fought and lost a civil war from 1967 to 1970 to break away from Nigeria. An estimated 1 million people died in the war, many from the southeast.
During proceedings, Judge James Omotosho said, “The defendant ought to enter some explanation.”
“This is not to say that the defendant is guilty as charged, but an opportunity to give him a fair hearing and allow him to exhaust his chances of explaining himself,” the judge ruled. “This no-case submission is overruled, and the defendant is hereby required to enter his defense.”
Many people have been killed in southeastern Nigeria in violence blamed on IPOB, which the group denies.
About four weeks ago, Simon Ekpa, another separatist leader who rose to prominence after Kanu’s detention, was sentenced in Finland to six years in prison for terrorism and tax fraud.
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