A Federal High Court in Abuja has sentenced the leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPoB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu to life imprisonment for terrorism.
About two hours after finding Kanu guilty on all seven charges and convicting him, Justice James Omotosho returned from recess to sentence him to life imprisonment on Counts One, Two, Four, Five, and Six, instead of a death sentence.
He also sentenced the IPoB leader to 20 years imprisonment on Counts Three, and five years imprisonment on Count Seven, with no option of fine.
He said the sentence shall run concurrently.
Delivering judgement, he said: ‘I hereby sentence the convict to life imprisonment for Counts One, Two, Four, Five and Six, instead of death sentence.
‘With respect to Count Three, he is hereby sentenced to 20 years imprisonment without no option of fine.
‘For Count Seven, he is sentenced to five years imprisonment without no option of fine. To extend the mercy, I hereby order that the sentence shall run concurrently’.
The judge noted that Kanu offered no credible defence and ‘deliberately refused’ to challenge the evidence presented in court.
He said that the IPoB leader was ‘a person who cannot be allowed to remain in the company of sane minds’, while describing him as an ‘international terrorist’.
He said Kanu’s claim of being a freedom fighter could not excuse actions taken outside the bounds of the law.
Omotosho noted that the convict pursued his agitation through ‘brutal force and terrorism’, which caused the ‘bloodshed of innocent citizens’.
Earlier, the Federal Government through, its lead counsel, Chief Adegboyega Awomolo, had asked for the death penalty.
He ruled: ‘The punishment prescribed for the offences in Counts One, Two, Four, Five and Six, pursuant to Section 12H of the Terrorism Prevention Amendment Act 2013, is death.
‘With all sense of humility, I say as a prosecutor that this court has no discretion in that regard.
‘The only sentence Your Lordship can impose for Counts One, Two, Four, Five and Six is death, because the law empowers you to do so, and we expect that you will’.
However, the judge said that, while the IPoB founder’s crimes merited the death penalty, he opted for a life sentence to show mercy.
