Nigerian Court Denies Separatist Leader Bail
An attempt by Igbo separatists to secede as the Republic of Biafra in 1967 triggered a three-year civil war.
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A Nigerian court has denied a bail request for separatist leader Nnamdi Kanu who is standing trial for “terrorism” charges and also broadcasting falsehoods, one of his defence lawyers told the media. The Court session was then held on the Wednesday and on camera, according to new regulations for trials with charges of terrorism.
Kanu, a British citizen who leads the banned Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), is standing trial on seven counts of terrorism that the Government has brought against him. He has denied the charges, which are also linked to broadcasts he made between 2018 and last year. IPOB, which Kanu also founded in the 2014, is pressing for the
secession of a part of southeast Nigeria where majority of the population is of the Igbo ethnicity. Authorities view IPOB as a terrorist group. An attempt by Igbo separatists to secede as the Republic of Biafra in 1967 the year that Kanu was born triggered a three-year civil war that killed more than one million people. IPOB has ordered Igbos in
the southeast to sit-at-home, a form of civil disobedience to show solidarity with Kanu since his arrest and trials in Abuja, crippling small businesses, and other economic activities.
