The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has criticised South-East leaders for appealing to President Bola Tinubu to release its detained leader, Nnamdi Kanu, as a political favour aimed at boosting the All Progressives Congress’s (APC) 2027 prospects and reviving the region’s economy.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, IPOB’s spokesperson, Emma Powerful, urged the leaders to stop “begging” President Tinubu and instead demand Kanu’s immediate and unconditional release in line with existing court rulings.
The pro-Biafran group condemned what it described as a “shameful spectacle” of regional leaders “going cap in hand” before the President, saying such actions demean the struggle for justice.
“The IPOB, under the leadership of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, categorically rejects and condemns the shameful spectacle of Igbo figures, including the likes of Jude Idimogu, grovelling before President Bola Tinubu with pleas and beggarly appeals for our leader’s ‘pardon’ or ‘release’,” the statement read in part.
“Such cowardly submissions—like Idimogu’s recent public appeal for Tinubu to free Kanu as a political favour—reek of self-serving opportunism and betrayal. They insult the intelligence of the Biafran people, undermine the rule of law, and perpetuate the false narrative that Mazi Nnamdi Kanu has committed any crime warranting mercy from a regime built on impunity.”
IPOB insisted that Kanu is “not a criminal in need of pardon” but a “prisoner of conscience” who was “unlawfully abducted” from Kenya on June 27, 2021, in violation of Kenyan sovereignty, Nigeria’s Extradition Act 2004, and international treaties such as the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
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The group cited rulings from the Kenyan High Court and Nigeria’s Court of Appeal, which it said affirmed the illegality of Kanu’s arrest and rendition. It maintained that the appellate court’s October 13, 2022, judgment discharged Kanu and barred his trial in any Nigerian court due to jurisdictional defects.
According to IPOB, the Supreme Court’s December 15, 2023, decision to remit the case for trial was a “per incuriam travesty” that violated Section 36(9) of the Nigerian Constitution, which protects against double jeopardy.
It also argued that the charges against Kanu were based on repealed provisions of the Terrorism Prevention Act 2011/2013, which were extinguished under Section 6(3) of the Interpretation Act 2004, with no savings clause to sustain them.
“The de novo trial before Justice Omotosho, which commenced on March 29, 2025, is an absolute nullity for lack of jurisdiction,” the group stated.
IPOB warned that continued pleas to the President undermine judicial authority and embolden dictatorship.
“Begging Tinubu reinforces autocracy and portrays Nigeria as a lawless fiefdom where executive whims trump judicial finality. It signals weakness to our oppressors, implying Kanu is guilty when the law has already exonerated him,” it said.
The group demanded Kanu’s immediate release, calling on Biafrans, Nigerians, and the international community to “amplify the demand, respect the Constitution, and free Kanu now.”
“Those who persist in begging will be seen as enablers of oppression—history will judge you harshly,” the statement concluded.
