Nnamdi Kanu Hits Appeal Court to Quash Life Sentence, Slams Judge for ‘Illegal’ Sentencing Without Mercy Plea

Mazi Nnamdi Kanu has officially launched his counter-attack against the Nigerian state’s legal victory. On Wednesday, the IPOB leader filed a comprehensive appeal at the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal, seeking to wipe out the life sentence handed to him just three months ago.

The appeal comes after a landmark judgment in November 2025 by Justice James Omotosho, which found Kanu guilty of seven counts of terrorism and sent him to prison for the rest of his life. However, Kanu’s lawyers are now claiming that the entire sentencing process was “lawless.”

In the new court filings, Kanu’s lead counsel, Aloy Ejimakor, pointed out a massive procedural loophole: the trial judge allegedly moved straight to sentencing without allowing Kanu his right to allocutus the final chance for a convict to beg the court for a lighter punishment. By skipping this, the defense argues that the life sentence is “cruel, unusual, and legally dead on arrival.”

“Mazi Nnamdi Kanu is being punished for his words, not his actions,” Ejimakor stated. “We are asking the appellate court to quash this conviction because you cannot convict a man for terrorism based on radio broadcasts from an unknown location, especially when those words were never linked to a single person being slapped, let alone killed.”

Beyond the sentencing technicalities, the appeal revisits the “original sin” of the trial Kanu’s 2021 rendition from Kenya. The defense insists that as long as the Nigerian government “stole” Kanu from a foreign country, no court in Nigeria has the moral or legal right to judge him.

While the Federal Government’s lawyers have celebrated the conviction as a win for national security, Kanu is now betting everything on the higher court. Currently cooling his heels in a Sokoto prison, the IPOB leader is demanding a total discharge and acquittal, setting the stage for yet another explosive chapter in Nigeria’s longest-running legal drama.