Nnamdi Kanu

Nnamdi Okwu Kanu (born 25 September 1967) is a British-Nigerian political activist who advocates for the secession and independence of Biafra from Nigeria.

The main aim of IPOB is to restore the defunct separatist state of Biafra which existed in Nigeria's Eastern Region during the Nigerian Civil War of 1967–1970.

As the director of a United Kingdom-registered radio station named Radio Biafra, Kanu propagated Biafran separatism.

Kanu was born 25 September 1967 in Isiama Afara Ukwu, Umuahia — within the claimed territory of the Republic of Biafra a few months after it had declared independence from Nigeria.

His father, Eze Israel Okwu Kanu (JP), and his mother, Ugoeze Nnenne Kanu, were Nigerian traditional monarchs.

He attended Library Avenue Primary School and went to Government College Umuahia for his secondary education.

He studied at University of Nigeria, Nsukka and moved to the UK before graduating.

Radio Biafra however, was established by the defunct Biafran government in 1967 with the aim of championing the Biafran cause.

Kanu was a relatively obscure figure until 2009 when he started Radio Biafra, a station that called for an independent state for the Igbo people and broadcast to Nigeria from London.

He is the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), which he founded in 2014.

Kanu began his activism for the freedom of Biafra as a Radio Biafra director and anchor of Biafra awareness under Ralph Uwazuruike, leader of the Movement for the Actualisation of Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), who said while in a meeting in Kaduna, Nigeria on June 12, 2014, that he handed over Radio Biafra to Nnamdi Kanu, leader of IPOB but Kanu disappointed him.

In 2014, he founded IPOB.

He was arrested on treason charges in Lagos, Nigeria on 14 October 2015 and was detained for more than a year, despite various court orders that ruled for his release.

When in court, Kanu appeared regularly wearing a Jewish prayer shawl and head covering.

He said in court, that he "believes in Judaism" and considers himself a Jew.

He has led his Biafran people to various Jewish prayers and religious observations on different occasions.

On 5 September 2015, Nnamdi Kanu was a guest speaker at the World Igbo Congress which was held in Los Angeles, where he told his audience "we need guns and we need bullets".

On 18 October 2015, it was reported that Kanu had been arrested in Lagos State by Nigeria's secret police, the Department of State Services (DSS).

Kanu had told his solicitors that on 14 October 2015, he was arrested by the agents of the Federal Government of Nigeria, the State Security Service (SSS), in his hotel room at the Golden Tulip Essential Hotel Ikeja, Lagos State.

The solicitors in a press briefing said, between 14 and 17 October 2015 their client's whereabouts were unknown until 18 October 2015, when the press media broke the news of his arrest and detention by the SSS in Abuja.

The news of the arrest of Kanu generated protests across Delta State, Enugu State, Rivers State, Cross River State, Abia State, Imo State, Akwa Ibom State, Bayelsa State and Anambra State.

On 19 October 2015, it was reported that Nnamdi Kanu had been granted bail after a secret arraignment at Magistrate Court, Wuse 11.

However, the bail seemed "controversial" and there were claims the DSS announced the bail only "to calm the angry people of Biafra".

The Magistrate Court 1 sitting in Abuja on 18 November 2015 ordered the Department of State Services (DSS) to produce Kanu at the court on 23 November 2015.

However, it was reported the Department of State Services (DSS) obtained a "secret court order to detain Nnamdi Kanu".

Kanu's lawyer, Vincent Obetta, in an interview said whilst in court, the prosecutor gave him a document containing a court order permitting the Department of State Services (DSS) to detain Kanu for the next three months to "conclude what they said was an investigation of terrorism and terrorism financing".

Kanu was finally arraigned on 23 November 2015 in an Abuja Magistrate Court for the first time for charges of "criminal conspiracy, intimidation and membership of an illegal organisation" by Nigeria's Department of State Services (DSS).

The charges violate "Section 97, 97B and 397" of Nigeria's penal code.

Chief Magistrate S. Usman had, at the last adjourned date, berated the Department of State Services (DSS) over its failure to produce Kanu in court on the two consecutive times the matter came up before the court.

Meanwhile, Kanu's supporters stormed Nigeria's capital city of Abuja in luxury buses on a peaceful protest for their leader who was arraigned by the Federal Government before the Wuse Zone 2 Magistrate Court, Abuja on 23 November 2015.

Pro-Biafra protesters with placards sang and danced outside the court premises whilst the hearing proceeded.

Protesters wore T-shirts and caps with inscriptions like "Biafra Now or Never", "Buhari Release Kanu For Us", "On Biafra We Stand".

More protests by IPOB members numbering over 15,000 grounded vehicular movements in the southeastern key economic city of Onitsha concurrently.

It was the same with over 20,000 protesters in Aba, Abia State on the same day.

Kanu, through his counsel, filed an application asking the federal authorities to transfer him from the custody of the Department of State Services (DSS) to prison.

On 28 April 2017, Kanu was released from prison on bail.

After jumping bail and fleeing abroad, he played a major role in the insurgency in Southeastern Nigeria.

Nigerian security forces attempted to quash IPOB's armed wing, the Eastern Security Network, which culminated in a low-level conflict in early 2021.

Despite the fighting, Kanu maintained that IPOB was interested in a peaceful solution and achieving Biafran independence without violence or harm.

In June 2021, he was re-arrested by Interpol and handed over to Nigeria.