By Nchetachi Chukwuajah
The leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, has filed a notice of appeal at the Court of Appeal challenging his conviction and life sentence handed him by the Federal High Court in Abuja.
The notice of appeal was filed on Wednesday, February 4, and named the Federal Republic of Nigeria as the respondent.
It urged the appellate court to “quash, reverse and set aside” the judgement of the trial court.
Kanu, in the notice containing 22 grounds of appeal, is contending, among others, that his preliminary objections and pending bail application were ignored.
He also argued that he was convicted despite a prior Court of Appeal ruling declaring earlier proceedings a nullity.
The IPOB leader stated that the trial judge “erred in law by failing to resolve the procedural and competence consequences” of the disrupted 2017 trial.
Kanu, in other grounds raised in the notice of appeal, accused the trial judge of misdirection for treating his absence from Nigeria as adverse.
He also said he was convicted under a repealed law, retried on overlapping facts, and sentenced without consideration of mitigation or “allocutus,” among others.
The IPOB leader asked the Court of Appeal to allow his appeal, quash his conviction on all counts, set aside the sentences imposed by the Federal High Court, and discharge and acquit him in respect of all the charges.
Kanu was convicted and sentenced on multiple counts to life imprisonment and other varying prison terms on November 20, 2025, by Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court, Abuja.
Justice Omotosho sentenced Kanu to life imprisonment for counts 1, 2, 4, 5, and 6, instead of a death sentence, and sentenced him to 20 years’ imprisonment without fine on count 3, and was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment for count 7.
He ruled that the sentences should run concurrently, adding that Kanu should not be allowed to use digital devices and be kept in protective custody.
Kanu was thereafter taken to the Sokoto Correctional Centre to serve his sentence following the court’s ruling that he should serve his sentence in any correctional facility other than the Kuje Custodial Centre in Abuja.
