The federal government has moved Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), from the DSS facility in Abuja to a correctional centre in Sokoto. His lawyer, Aloy Ejimakor, broke the news on X with the post: “Breaking: MAZI NNAMDI KANU has just been moved from DSS Abuja to the correctional facility (prison) in Sokoto; so far away from his lawyers, family, loved ones and wellwishers.”
The transfer came after the Federal High Court in Abuja convicted and sentenced Kanu to life imprisonment on terrorism charges. Kanu’s legal team rejected the ruling, calling it “a travesty of justice” and saying they will appeal to the Court of Appeal.
Speaking after the hearing, Ejimakor described the verdict in strong terms: “Today will forever be in Nigeria history. Today is the only day I have witnessed a man being convicted for just what he said from his mouth, not what he did with his own hands.” He argued the evidence did not support the conviction and said the punishment was excessive. “The verdict is not consistent with the evidence laid before the court. The sentence is overbroad, cruel and unusual,” he said.
Ejimakor pressed the point that the case rested on broadcasts rather than actions. “How can you convict a man for making a mere broadcast from a location that was never named, and you never tied that broadcast to any single incidents of violence, or even someone slapping someone, not to talk of terrorism?” he asked. He also defended calls for self-determination: “To pursue a separate nation of yours is not a crime. In Nigeria today, if somebody says, ‘don’t be silly’, he will get convicted.
“Mazi Nnamdi Kanu made broadcasts, and so what? You convict him for terrorism for mere words in the Federal Republic of Nigeria. What kind of presidence is being laid?”
Ejimakor said the legal team will move quickly. “From here we are heading to the Court of Appeal. We are going to approach the justices there to check out what happened here today.
“We are very sure that justices there will agree that today was a symbol of travesty of justice that everybody has been suspecting all along.
“If the Court of Appeal disagrees with us, we will head to the Supreme Court, but by God Almighty, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu is not going to stand convicted. It is going to get overturned.”
Another defence lawyer, Barrister Maxwell Okpara, echoed criticism of the ruling and called it driven by anger rather than law. Okpara urged calm in the South‑East and told supporters not to use violence, while the legal team presses ahead with the appeal.
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