IPOB Gives FG 14-Day Ultimatum to List Nnamdi Kanu’s Appeal or Face Election Boycott

Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB

IPOB Gives FG 14-Day Ultimatum to List Nnamdi Kanu’s Appeal or Face Election Boycott

Separatist group accuses government of avoiding court after rushing to convict Kanu, demands urgent listing of appeal

The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has issued a 14-day ultimatum to the Federal Government, demanding the immediate listing and hearing of detained leader Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s appeal, or face a boycott of the 2027 general election across the South-East and other parts of what the group describes as “Biafraland”. The ultimatum was issued on Monday by IPOB’s Head of Directorate of State (DOS), Mazi Chris Nwaogu, in a video broadcast. The development follows renewed concerns by Kanu’s family over the delay in hearing the appeal against the conviction and life sentence handed to the IPOB leader. The family recently disclosed that Kanu wrote to the Chief Justice of Nigeria and the President of the Court of Appeal, seeking the immediate listing and hearing of his pending cases.

Nwaogu accused the Federal Government of avoiding the court after moving swiftly to secure Kanu’s conviction. “The Federal Government has not filed a Respondent’s brief, they have not listed the appeal, they have not come to court. A country that rushed to convict is now too frightened to defend the conviction,” he said. He warned that the group would consider mobilising for a boycott of the 2027 elections if the government failed to act within the stipulated period. “We are giving them 14 days to list Onyendu Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s appeal, if they refuse, we will consider boycotting the coming elections across Biafraland and beyond. A government that cannot face its Court of Appeal has no right to demand our votes,” Nwaogu added.

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Nwaogu also criticised the handling of Kanu’s case by the Nigerian judiciary, alleging that the proceedings from the trial court through the appellate stages had exposed serious concerns about the country’s judicial system. “This judicial conspiracy through the trial court to the remittal and the present silence will shame the Chief Justice of Nigeria and all lawyers who still pretend this system is healthy. This case will either reset the Nigerian judiciary or expose it,” he said. He particularly faulted the Supreme Court’s decision which overturned Kanu’s discharge and acquittal by the Court of Appeal, insisting that the apex court exceeded its constitutional powers by pronouncing on individual counts that had already been quashed by the Court of Appeal. “Justice Lawal Garba, JSC, crossed a line that the Constitution does not allow. This is the heart of the matter,” Nwaogu stated, arguing that a court “cannot manufacture jurisdiction that has ceased to exist.”

The Okwu-Kanu family had earlier raised the alarm over the delay in hearing Kanu’s appeal against his conviction. In a statement, the family disclosed that Kanu had separately petitioned the Chief Justice of Nigeria and the President of the Court of Appeal, requesting the immediate listing and hearing of his pending cases. The family drew a direct comparison to October 2022, when the Court of Appeal delivered a judgment discharging Kanu and quashing the criminal counts against him. According to the family, the Federal Government obtained a stay of execution just 14 days after that judgment, preventing Kanu from regaining his freedom. “Fourteen days. In fourteen days, the machinery of the Court of Appeal moved from an acquittal-equivalent discharge to a civil stay that kept Mazi Nnamdi Kanu in detention,” the family stated. The family disclosed plans to formally notify the United States Congress, Israeli Knesset, and International Bar Association of what it described as an “unacceptable delay” in the handling of Kanu’s cases.

Kanu commenced proceedings before the Supreme Court on November 7, 2025, challenging the legality of the apex court’s December 15, 2023 remittal judgment. According to the family, the Federal Government was duly served but has not filed a substantive response more than nine months later. There is also a separate appeal before the Court of Appeal challenging Kanu’s November 20, 2025 conviction and life sentence. Kanu’s Appellant’s Brief was filed on June 5, 2026, and served on the Federal Government, but the prescribed period for filing the Respondent’s Brief has elapsed without one being filed. In a related development, the Federal Government has withdrawn its cross-appeal seeking the death penalty against Kanu. Kanu’s Special Counsel, Aloy Ejimakor, confirmed that the government formally communicated its decision not to pursue the aspect of the appeal seeking to replace the life sentence with capital punishment.