32 Facts About Nnamdi Kanu

Nnamdi Kanu is the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, which he founded in 2014.

Nnamdi Kanu 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, Nnamdi Kanu appeared regularly wearing a Jewish prayer shawl and head covering.

Nnamdi Kanu said in court, that he "believes in Judaism" and considers himself a Jew and oftentimes has led his Biafran people to various Jewish prayers and religious observations.

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

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

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

Nnamdi 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.

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 Nnamdi Kanu had been arrested in Lagos State by Nigeria's secret police, the Department of State Services.

Nnamdi 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, in his hotel room at the Golden Tulip Essential Hotel Ikeja, Lagos State.

The news of the arrest of Nnamdi 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.

Nnamdi 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 to detain Nnamdi Kanu for the next three months to "conclude what they said was an investigation of terrorism and terrorism financing".

Nnamdi 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.

Meanwhile, Nnamdi 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.

On 20 October 2015, Vanguard announced that Nnamdi Kanu had been released on bail.

Nnamdi Kanu has finally been released on bail by Justice Binta Nyako for health reasons.

Nnamdi Kanu disappeared from public view after his home was raided by the Nigerian military, in September 2017, an event which led to the deaths of 28 IPOB members.

Nnamdi Kanu's pronounced strategy has been the application of civil disobedience in pressing home his demand for the freedom of his people.

In various air broadcasts, Nnamdi Kanu stated how his adoption of Martin Luther King Jr.

Nnamdi Kanu's shift was received in different quarters as being open to the appeal and opinions of others.

In December 2020, Nnamdi Kanu announced that IPOB had organized the Eastern Security Network which was supposed to defend southeastern Nigerians from bandits and armed Fulani herders.

Nnamdi Kanu later gave all the governors of southeast Nigeria 14 days to ban open-grazing, threatening to deploy the ESN to enforce a ban if the authorities did not do so.

Regardless, Nigerian authorities designated IPOB as terrorist organization and claimed that Nnamdi Kanu was inciting violence.

On June 27,2021, Nnamdi Kanu was arrested in Kenya or possibly another location by Interpol and extradited to Nigeria where he is supposed to face trial.

Nnamdi Kanu's brother claimed that he had been arrested by the Kenyan police.

Nnamdi Kanu's arrest has sparked anger among Biafran separatists and other Nigerians supportive to his cause.

The trial began in October 2021, with Nnamdi Kanu being accused of "terrorism, treason, involvement with a banned separatist movement, inciting public violence through radio broadcasts, and defamation of Nigerian authorities through broadcasts".

On 19 January 2022, Justice Benson Anya of the Abia State High Court ruled that the 2017 arrest of Nnamdi Kanu was unlawful and an infringement on his human rights, and that his abduction and forceful return to Nigeria was "illegal" under local and international laws.

Ikemesit Effiong, researcher at a political risk analysis firm, argued that an ultimate conviction of Nnamdi Kanu remained likely, as the "political will exists to make an example of a separatist leader who has caused the central government more than its fair share of headaches".

Nnamdi Kanu has since the beginning of his advocacy made highly controversial comments on various occasions.