Aloy Ejimakor, Special Counsel to Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), has described the separatist leader as a victim of “prosecutorial overkill” by the Nigerian government.

Ejimakor alleged that the government misled the judiciary in the course of prosecuting Kanu, insisting that the central issue in his client’s case was not terrorism or treason, but his agitation for the actualisation of Biafra.

In a post on X, Ejimakor said Kanu had consistently maintained that the agitation for Biafra was a response to perceived unequal treatment of Nigerians from the Southeast.

He wrote: “From day one, the bone of contention wasn’t terrorism or treason, but agitation for a separate state.

“He has always said that Biafra is a means to an end. If you don’t treat us well equally as Nigerians, then you let us go and have a separate state. That’s what Nnamdi Kanu was saying.

“MNK is a victim of prosecutorial overkill by the State and the judiciary was hoodwinked. What remains is the fix, and it shall come, sooner than later.”

Kanu was first arrested on October 14, 2015, in Lagos by the Department of State Services (DSS) over his activities with Radio Biafra and was subsequently charged with treasonable felony.

He was arraigned before an Abuja Magistrate Court in November 2015 before his case was transferred to the Federal High Court in Abuja for trial.

On April 28, 2017, Justice Binta Nyako granted Kanu bail on health grounds. However, he later left Nigeria following a military raid on his residence in Abia State, leading to the revocation of his bail.

On June 26, 2021, Kanu was arrested in Kenya and returned to Nigeria in what his legal team described as an extraordinary rendition. He was subsequently detained by the DSS and rearraigned before the Federal High Court in Abuja.

After years of legal proceedings over his agitation for the actualisation of Biafra, Kanu was sentenced to life imprisonment on November 20, 2025, by Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court in Abuja.