Human rights activist and former presidential candidate, Omoyele Sowore, has alleged that a covert plan has been hatched within President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration to secure a pre-determined verdict against the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.
In a statement shared on his verified social media handle, Sowore claimed that the Federal Government had already reached a “secret decision” to either sentence Kanu to death or condemn him to life imprisonment, warning that such a move would mark a tragic return to the darkest days of political repression in Nigeria’s history.
“For the avoidance of doubt and to alert the public, it has become clear that a secret decision has long been reached within the @officialABAT regime regarding the fate of Mazi @NnamdiKanu,” Sowore alleged.
“The plan, devised through a high-level political conspiracy, is to either sentence him to death or condemn him to life imprisonment. This outcome, predetermined far in advance, is now being dressed up in the guise of judicial procedure,” he added.
Sowore accused the government of manipulating the legal process to justify a verdict that had already been “agreed upon behind closed doors,” specifically referring to Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court, Abuja, who is presiding over Kanu’s ongoing terrorism trial.
“Justice Omotosho is expected to conclude Kanu’s trial by declaring that his refusal to open his defence amounts to an admission of guilt — a convenient interpretation designed to seal a verdict already agreed upon,” Sowore alleged.
“The ruling is anticipated this November, a month that bears a haunting historical precedent,” he continued, recalling the November 1995 execution of environmental activist Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other Ogoni leaders under the regime of General Sani Abacha.
“Today, three decades later, Nigeria appears to be standing at the same moral crossroads. Only the year has changed; this is 2025, not 1995, but the machinery of repression grinds on,” he wrote.
According to Sowore, Kanu’s continued detention and trial have “ceased to be about justice,” describing it instead as “a test of conscience for the Nigerian state and its citizens alike.”
“The trial of Nnamdi Kanu has ceased to be about justice; it is now a test of conscience for the Nigerian state and its citizens alike,” Sowore declared, ending his statement with the hashtag #FreeNnamdiKanuNow.
Background
Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), has been in detention since June 2021, when he was forcibly returned to Nigeria from Kenya under controversial circumstances. He faces terrorism-related charges brought by the Federal Government, which accuses him of inciting violence and threatening Nigeria’s territorial integrity through IPOB’s separatist campaign.
In October 2022, the Court of Appeal discharged and acquitted Kanu, ruling that his extradition from Kenya was unlawful. However, the Federal Government refused to release him, citing a pending appeal before the Supreme Court.
Kanu’s trial resumed this year before Justice James Omotosho, who recently gave him until November 7, 2025, to open his defence — a directive Kanu has resisted, insisting that the terrorism law under which he is being tried has been repealed.
Sowore’s statement has reignited public debate over the handling of the case, with human rights groups and political observers calling for transparency and adherence to due process.
