FG Plans To Sentence Kanu To Death Or Life In Prison, Sowore Claims

Former presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), Omoyele Sowore, has alleged a secret plot by the Federal Government to either sentence the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, to death or imprison him for life.

In a post on his official X handle, Sowore claimed that the decision on Kanu’s fate had already been taken within President Bola Tinubu’s administration, describing it as a “high-level political conspiracy” disguised as due judicial process.

“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 wrote.

“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.”

THE WHISTLER could not independently verify this claim.

Sowore accused the government of manipulating the judicial process to justify a verdict that has already been decided.

He warned that Justice James Omotosho, who is handling Kanu’s terrorism trial at the Federal High Court in Abuja, is expected to interpret Kanu’s refusal to open his defence as an admission of guilt, paving the way for a conviction.

He further linked the timing of the expected ruling in November to the haunting memory of the execution of environmental activist Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight others by the military regime of the late General Sani Abacha in November 1995.

“Thirty years later, Nigeria stands again at a moral crossroads. Only the calendar has changed, this is 2025, not 1995, but the machinery of repression still grinds on,” he added.

Sowore described Kanu’s trial as no longer a matter of justice but a test of the nation’s conscience and commitment to democratic principles.

The allegation comes as the Federal High Court in Abuja warned that it may foreclose Kanu’s defence following his repeated refusal to open his case.

Justice Omotosho warned that if the IPOB leader fails to begin his defence at the next sitting on November 5, the court would deem him to have waived his right to do so.

Kanu, however, insists that there is no valid charge against him and maintains that his continued detention is unlawful.