MASSOB Condemns Life Sentence for Nnamdi Kanu, Calls Ruling an Attack on Ndigbo
The Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) has strongly condemned the life imprisonment sentence handed to the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, describing the ruling as “politically motivated” and “an attack on the Igbo people.”
In a statement issued on Friday by its leader, Comrade Uchenna Madu, the pro-Biafra group criticised the judgment delivered by Justice James Omotosho, alleging that it reflected “open anger and tribalism.”
Madu said the judge had “sentenced Mazi Nnamdi Kanu to his master’s prison,” adding:
“This is not justice but vengeance from a man playing a script loaded with pathological hatred and jealousy against Ndigbo. Ndigbo have been sentenced to life imprisonment in Nigeria.”
The group accused President Bola Tinubu of “setting Nigeria on irredeemable fire,” claiming the ruling “shot the Nigerian state on her deteriorated foundation.”
MASSOB also faulted the legal basis of the trial, accusing the government of violating international law. It argued that Kanu was “illegally rendered” from Kenya in 2021, referencing a June 2025 ruling by Kenyan High Court Justice Anthony Mrima which reportedly described the rendition as a “blatant violation” of his rights.
The organisation further noted that the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention had, in opinions delivered in 2022 and 2025, labelled Kanu’s continued detention as arbitrary and called for his immediate release.
According to MASSOB, the life sentence contrasts sharply with the five-year prison term recently handed to Boko Haram co-founder Mamman Nur, whom it described as “a chief Islamic terrorist commander responsible for over 2,000 deaths.”
“In Nigeria today, words from London carry a heavier penalty than mass murder,” the group said.
“Mazi’s real crime was his bold exposure of the radical Islamic jihad consuming Nigeria and the government’s symbiotic relationship with the jihadists.”
MASSOB also insisted that Kanu’s prosecution under what it called “a repealed anti-terror law” lacked legal standing, arguing that the absence of a savings clause further undermined the charges.
The organisation reiterated that the injustice “is not against Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, but against Ndigbo,” describing the ruling as evidence of what it called “a brutal, lawless, totalitarian regime.”
After nearly four years on the run following his bail jump, Kanu was arrested and returned to Nigeria through the joint efforts of Nigerian intelligence operatives and Interpol. From London, where he is also a citizen, Kanu had long used Radio Biafra to promote separatism and criticise Nigerian authorities.
