Kanunta Kanu, sibling of detained Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) leader Nnamdi Kanu, has revealed that the family was granted access to him over the weekend at the Sokoto Medium Security Custodial Centre. One of his lawyers, Dr. Maxwell Opara, was also part of the delegation.
Their visit comes days after the Federal High Court in Abuja handed Kanu a series of heavy sentences: life imprisonment on counts one, two, four, five, and six; 20 years for count three; and a five-year term for count seven, with the latter two to run simultaneously.
Justice James Omotosho further instructed that Kanu be relocated from Kuje Custodial Centre to a more secure environment and barred him from using digital devices except under strict supervision by the Office of the National Security Adviser.
The court also ordered the permanent forfeiture of Kanu’s seized radio transmitter to the Federal Government, giving the Department of State Services a 90-day window to pursue forfeiture of additional exhibits.
In a Sunday update, Kanunta reported that Prince Emmanuel Kanu accompanied Opara for the visit, during which Nnamdi Kanu strongly rejected the basis of his conviction.
According to him, the judgment collapses under legal scrutiny because it relies on **laws that, he argued, had already been repealed**. He reportedly insisted that such statutes cannot be used to convict any Nigerian.
Kanu also lamented that his final written address—centred on the constitutional right to fair hearing—was never considered by the court. He further challenged the admissibility of the evidence used against him, stating that the materials neither appeared in the charge sheet nor were they properly tendered before the court.
He allegedly faulted the judge’s reliance on charges previously dismissed by Justice Binta Nyako, calling it a “fundamental procedural blunder.”
Kanunta noted that the IPOB leader identified what he described as “a catalogue of errors” in the judgment and urged the legal community—judges, magistrates, and lawyers alike—to examine the ruling with diligence and objectivity.
Kanu also questioned why court decisions from Umuahia, Enugu, the Court of Appeal, and even findings from the UN Working Group, which reportedly affirmed that the laws in question were no longer in force, were disregarded in reaching the verdict.
Also Read: Peter Obi Lists 10 Days of Tragedy, Blames Leadership Failure for Rising Insecurity
He was said to have expressed gratitude to Nigerians and international observers who have spoken out since the judgment, stressing that he opposes injustice in any form, whether it affects him or any other person irrespective of ethnicity, religion, or background.
