Nigeria jails separatist leader Nnamdi Kanu for life on ‘terrorism’ charges

A Nigerian court has sentenced separatist leader Nnamdi Kanu to life in prison after convicting him on seven charges related to “terrorism” in a years-long trial.

In his ruling on Thursday, Nigerian Judge James Omotosho said prosecutors proved that Kanu’s broadcasts and orders to his now-banned Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) group incited deadly attacks on security forces and citizens in the southeast.

The violence was part of his push for an independent Biafra state for the ethnic Igbo-dominated region.

Omotosho told the court that the “right to self-determination is a political right”, but he added that: “Any self-determination not done according to the constitution of Nigeria is illegal.”

Prosecutors had sought the death penalty against Kanu, but Omotosho said he chose to show mercy.

“The death penalty is now being frowned upon by the international community. Consequently, in the interests of justice, I hereby sentence the convict to life imprisonment … instead of [the] death sentence,” Omotosho ruled.

Kanu has 90 days to appeal.

Kanu, who has been in custody since his controversial re-arrest in Kenya in 2021, shouted angrily in objection to the proceedings and was ejected from court ahead of the ruling. He had argued that his unlawful extradition from Kenya undermined any chance of a fair trial.

Kanu pleaded not guilty in 2021 to seven charges that included “terrorism”, treason and perpetuating falsehoods against Nigeria’s former President Muhammadu Buhari.

Kanu was first arrested in 2015, but fled the country while on bail. His social media posts during his absence and his Radio Biafra broadcasts outraged the government, which said they encouraged attacks on security forces.

Ultimately, security agents brought Kanu to court in Abuja in June 2021 after detaining him in Kenya, where his lawyer alleged he was mistreated. Kenya has denied involvement.

In October 2021, Kanu’s lawyers argued that his statements on Radio Biafra shouldn’t be admissible in a Nigerian court since they were made in London.

“I can’t see how someone would make a statement in London and it becomes a triable offence in this country,” Kanu’s lawyer Ifeanyi Ejiofor told reporters at the time.

Kanu, a dual Nigerian-British citizen, started Radio Biafra – an obscure, London-based radio station – in 2009 after he left Nigeria to study economics and politics at the London Metropolitan University.

In one broadcast, Kanu said: “We have one thing in common, all of us that believe in Biafra, one thing we have in common, a pathological hatred for Nigeria. I cannot begin to put into words how much I hate Nigeria.”

IPOB wants a swathe of the southeast, the homeland of the Igbo ethnic group, to split from Nigeria. An attempt to secede in 1967 as the Republic of Biafra triggered a three-year civil war that killed more than one million people.

By Abby Rogers, Al Jazeera

Pupils abducted from Catholic school in fresh Nigeria attack

An unknown number of pupils have been abducted by armed men from a Catholic school in central Nigeria, the second mass school kidnapping this week.

The latest attack targeted St Mary's School in Papiri, Niger state, where authorities had already ordered the temporary closure of all boarding schools due to rising security threats.

Details remain unclear but residents fear that close to 100 students and staff may have been taken away during the early-morning raid.

Nigeria has faced a renewed wave of attacks by armed groups in recent days, including the kidnapping on Monday of more than 20 schoolgirls, who the BBC has been told are Muslim, from a boarding school in nearby Kebbi state.

Police said armed men - locally known as bandits - stormed St Mary's School on Friday at about 02:00 local time (01:00 GMT) and abducted an unconfirmed number of students from their hostel.

Fear and uncertainty have gripped the area as families wait for news.

The authorities in Niger state said the school had disregarded an order to close all boarding facilities following intelligence warnings of a heightened risk of attacks.

"Regrettably, St Mary's School proceeded to reopen and resume academic activities without notifying or seeking clearance from the state government, thereby exposing pupils and the staff to avoidable risk," they said in a statement.

The school has not commented.

The police said that security agencies were "combing the forests with a view to rescue the abducted students".

The attack follows claims by US President Donald Trump that Christians are being persecuted in Nigeria, an allegation dismissed by the Nigerian government.

Earlier this month, Trump said he would send troops into Nigeria "guns a-blazing" if its government "continues to allow the killing of Christians".

The Nigerian government has pushed back on these claims, describing them as "a gross misrepresentation of reality".

An official said that "terrorists attack all who reject their murderous ideology - Muslims, Christians and those of no faith alike".

Nigeria is currently grappling multiple overlapping security crises.

The country's 220 million people are roughly evenly split between followers of the two religions, with Muslims in the majority in the north.

The kidnapping of people for ransom by criminal gangs, known locally as bandits, has become a major problem in many parts of the country.

In the north-east, jihadist groups have been battling the state for more than a decade. Organisations monitoring violence say most of the victims of these groups are Muslim because most attacks happen in the north.

In the centre of the country, there are also frequently deadly attacks between herders, who are mostly Muslim, on farmers, who are largely Christian. However, analysts say these are often motivated by competition for resources such as water or land, rather than religion.

On Tuesday, gunmen opened fire on a church in south-western Kwara state, killing two people and abducting 38 others as the service was being broadcast online.

Local media report that the kidnappers have demanded a ransom.

Two of the schoolgirls abducted on Monday in Kebbi state have managed to escape, while 23 are still missing. Two people were killed in that attack. They were both Muslim.

President Bola Tinubu this week postponed his foreign trips to address the rising wave of attacks across Africa's most populous country.

By Chris Ewokor and Wycliffe Muia, BBC

Video - 25 girls abducted by armed gunmen in Nigeria

In Kebbi State, Nigeria, gunmen attacked a girls’ boarding school, killed the vice principal, and kidnapped 25 students. Security forces and local vigilantes are conducting an intensive search, highlighting persistent insecurity and repeated school kidnappings in northwest Nigeria.

CGTN Africa

Gunmen attack church in Nigeria, killing two and kidnapping others

Gunmen have attacked a church in Nigeria, killing at least two people and kidnapping the pastor and some worshippers, police and witnesses said on Wednesday, days after 25 girls were abducted from a boarding school.

The attack on Tuesday evening in Eruku, a town in central Nigeria's Kwara state, puts more pressure on the government, which is under scrutiny from U.S. President Donald Trump who has threatened military action over what he says is persecution of Christians.

President Bola Tinubu postponed a planned trip to South Africa and Angola for G20 and AU-EU summits to receive security briefings on the two attacks, and ordered more security to hunt down the assailants in Kwara, his office said.

The president also directed the security agencies "to do everything possible" to rescue the schoolgirls, "abducted by the bandits and bring the girls back home safe", his spokesperson Bayo Onanuga said.

GRAPPLING WITH ISLAMIST INSURGENCY

Rapper Nicki Minaj appealed on Tuesday for global action to defend religious freedom. Speaking at the U.S. mission to the United Nations, the Trinidad-born artist, who lives in New York, said that in Nigeria "Christians are being targeted, driven from their homes and killed".

Nigeria is grappling with an Islamist insurgency in the northeast, abductions and killings by armed gangs mainly in the northwest and deadly clashes between mainly Muslim herdsmen and mostly Christian farmers in its central belt.

The government says the U.S. designation of Nigeria as "a country of particular concern" misrepresents its complex security challenges and does not take into account its efforts to safeguard freedom of religion for all.

In the latest attack, police responded to gunfire at around 6 p.m. on Tuesday and discovered one person fatally shot inside the church and another in a nearby bush, said Adetoun Ejire-Adeyemi, police spokesperson for Kwara state. Witnesses said they counted at least three dead church members.

"They later rounded up some worshippers, including the pastor, and took them into the bush," parishioner Joseph Bitrus told Reuters by phone, without saying how many were taken.

GUNFIRE ERUPTS DURING CHURCH SERVICE, VIDEO SHOWS

A video posted by a local news outlet and verified by Reuters showed the Christ Apostolic Church service being interrupted by gunfire, forcing parishioners to take cover. Armed men are seen entering and taking people's belongings as gunshots continue.

The governor of Kwara asked for the immediate deployment of more security operatives following the church attack, his spokesperson said.

Authorities have not yet located the girls abducted by armed men who stormed the predominantly Muslim Government Girls Comprehensive Secondary School in northwestern Kebbi state on Monday. Vice President Kashim Shettima was expected to travel to the state to meet officials and parents on Wednesday.

By Ahmed Kingimi, Reuters

Nigeria shuts some schools in Kwara state after church attack

Nigerian authorities have shut schools in five districts in central Kwara state, fearing they could be targets of armed gangs after a deadly attack on a church in the state earlier in the week.

Nigeria has witnessed a spate of attacks by gunmen, including the kidnapping on Monday of 25 schoolgirls from a boarding school in northwestern Kebbi state, putting a spotlight on insecurity and forcing President Bola Tinubu to postpone foreign trips.

"The (Kwara state) government is determined to curtail the activities of kidnappers who may want to use schoolchildren as human shields," Lawal Olohungbebe, the Kwara state education commissioner, said in a statement on Thursday.

He said the school closures would remain in place until security agencies give clearance for normal activities to resume.

On Tuesday evening, gunmen attacked a church in Kwara state, which borders Benin in the west of Nigeria, killing at least two people and kidnapping the pastor and some worshippers.

Nigeria is under scrutiny from U.S. President Donald Trump who in early November threatened military action over the treatment of Christians in the country.

Nigeria says claims that Christians face persecution misrepresent a complex security situation and do not take into account efforts to safeguard religious freedom.

Tinubu has dispatched a delegation led by the country's national security advisor to meet U.S. lawmakers and government officials.

Reuters