A Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered the re-arrest of the leader of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu to face trial on charges of terrorism, treasonable felony and disturbance of public peace preferred against him by the Federal Government.  

Justice Binta Nyako revoked the bail granted Kanu in 2017 and ruled that Kanu’s trial will commence in his absence as the accused has failed to present himself for trial.

IPOB was proscribed in 2017 after series of unrest and other acts of brigandage were allegedly instigated by them across the South-East.

The group predicated its actions, which included attacks on Northerners and Yorubas and sit-at-home orders, amongst other acts of civil disobedience, on allegations of marginalizing of the South East and the Igbo ethnic nationality.

It declared Biafra as a sovereign nation comprising the South-East, a declaration which the Federal Government viewed as treason thus ordering security operatives to apprehend the ring leaders of IPOB. IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu escaped out of the country in the wake of the military invasion of the South-East leaving his hapless followers behind. His whereabouts remained unknown until late last year when he was allegedly sited in Jerusalem.