The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has declared that the Federal Government’s Cross-Appeal against the judgment of the Federal High Court, Abuja, contains a damning admission that the trial court acted without jurisdiction when it imposed a life sentence on the leader of the group, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.
In a press statement issued to IgbereTV on June 7, 2026, and signed by IPOB spokesperson Emma Powerful, the group noted that in the Notice of Cross-Appeal filed against the November 20, 2025 judgment of Justice J.K. Omotosho, the Federal Government unequivocally stated that the trial court acted without jurisdiction when it imposed life imprisonment on counts 1, 2, 4, 5, and 6.
According to IPOB, the Federal Government’s admission that the sentencing phase was conducted without jurisdiction means the entire sentencing exercise is a nullity from the beginning, as jurisdiction is not divisible and cannot be split between conviction and sentencing.
Citing the Supreme Court’s decision in Madukolu v. Nkemdilim (1962), IPOB argued that once a court lacks jurisdiction, the entire proceedings are void no matter how well conducted. The group further stated that the Court of Appeal lacks the power to repair what the Federal Government itself has declared jurisdictionally dead.
IPOB accused the Attorney General of the Federation, Prince Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, and Chief Awomolo, SAN, of orchestrating a Cross-Appeal that it described as “legal gymnastics born out of desperation and bad faith.”
The group maintained that the Cross-Appeal will not intimidate Kanu into renouncing Biafra, describing him as the “reincarnation of the indomitable Biafran spirit.”
“We call on the Court of Appeal to do justice by dismissing the Cross-Appeal with ignominy and allowing the Appellant’s main appeal in its entirety, leading to the immediate and unconditional release of Onyendu Mazi Nnamdi Kanu,” the statement read.
IPOB insisted that the sentencing is void, the foundation of the case is shattered, and the entire prosecution stands on quicksand.
The group called on the international community to take note, adding: “The world is watching. History is watching.”
The state reads in full
IPOB PRESS STATEMENT
SUBJECT: Onyendu Mazi Nnamdi Kanu Accepts In Toto the Federal Government’s Cross-Appeal Damning Admission: Trial Court Acted Without Jurisdiction — A Total Collapse That the Court of Appeal Cannot Cure
The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) wishes to draw the attention of the world, the international community, and all men of conscience to yet another spectacular self-inflicted wound by the APC-led Federal Government of Nigeria in its desperate attempt to keep Onyendu Mazi Nnamdi Kanu in perpetual bondage.
In its Notice of Cross-Appeal filed against the judgment of the Federal High Court, Abuja (Coram: Hon. Justice J.K. Omotosho), delivered on the 20th day of November, 2025, the Federal Government unequivocally declared in black and white that the trial Court acted without jurisdiction when it imposed life imprisonment on Counts 1, 2, 4, 5 and 6.
Onyendu Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, the indefatigable Lion of Biafra and Leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, accepts this premise in toto. We adopt the Federal Government’s own words as our own. If the trial Court acted without jurisdiction at the sentencing phase, then the entire sentencing exercise is a nullity ab initio. Jurisdiction is not divisible. It is a sacred continuum. You cannot validly convict a man and then lack jurisdiction to sentence him on the same counts. That is judicial absurdity.
As the Supreme Court made clear in the immortal Madukolu v. Nkemdilim (1962), once there is a feature in the case that prevents the court from exercising jurisdiction, the entire proceedings are null and void no matter how well conducted. The Federal Government has now supplied that fatal feature through its own pleading. With the greatest respect, the Court of Appeal lacks the power to repair, cure, or resuscitate what the Respondent itself has declared jurisdictionally dead.
The FG cannot approbate and reprobate. They cannot admit the sentencing phase was conducted without jurisdiction and in the same breath urge the Court of Appeal to impose the death penalty on that same rotten foundation. This is not law; this is legal gymnastics born out of desperation and bad faith.
If the ill-thought-out Cross-Appeal orchestrated by the Attorney General of the Federation, Prince Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, Chief Awomolo, SAN, and the Yoruba APC Presidency is aimed at intimidating Onyendu Mazi Nnamdi Kanu into renouncing Biafra, then they have grossly miscalculated. Mazi Nnamdi Kanu is the reincarnation of the indomitable Biafran spirit and will never yield to such cheap blackmail. Other former freedom fighters may be cowards, but not Onyendu Mazi Nnamdi Kanu. To the FG, we say: bring it on.
This self-destructive Cross-Appeal is a clear manifestation of divine intervention and the inevitable collapse of the entire fabricated case against Onyendu. The Federal Government has handed us the sledgehammer to demolish their own conviction. The sentencing is void. The foundation is shattered. The entire prosecution stands on quicksand.
We call on the Court of Appeal to do justice by dismissing the Cross-Appeal with ignominy and allowing the Appellant’s main appeal in its entirety, leading to the immediate and unconditional release of Onyendu Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.
The world is watching. History is watching. No amount of judicial acrobatics or cheap intimidation can cure a fundamental lack of jurisdiction. The Lion of Biafra remains unbowed, and the spirit of Biafra remains unconquerable.
Signed:
Emma Powerful
Spokesperson, Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB)
07 June 2026.
