The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has condemned what it calls “shameful” and “self-serving” appeals by certain Igbo figures for President Bola Tinubu to grant a political pardon to its detained leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.

In a strongly worded statement issued on Tuesday by IPOB’s Media and Publicity Secretary, Comrade Emma Powerful, the group criticised recent remarks by former Lagos lawmaker Jude Idimogu, who reportedly urged Tinubu to free Kanu as a political gesture to boost the All Progressives Congress (APC) ahead of the 2027 elections and revive the South-East economy.

IPOB described such pleas as cowardly, opportunistic, and insulting to the Biafran people, insisting that Kanu is “not a criminal in need of pardon” but a “prisoner of conscience” who has been unlawfully detained since his controversial rendition from Kenya on June 27, 2021.

The group emphasised that both the Kenyan High Court and Nigeria’s Court of Appeal have ruled in Kanu’s favour, with the appellate court on October 13, 2022, discharging him and declaring that no Nigerian court had jurisdiction to try him. IPOB argued that this discharge amounts to a final acquittal under Nigerian law, protected by Section 36(9) of the 1999 Constitution, which prohibits retrial after an acquittal.

IPOB also criticised the Supreme Court’s December 15, 2023 ruling, which remitted Kanu’s case for trial, calling it a “per incuriam travesty” that violates constitutional safeguards. The group maintained that the charges rest on repealed laws—specifically the Terrorism Prevention Act 2011/2013—rendering the trial before Justice James Omotosho, which began on March 29, 2025, “void ab initio.”

“Begging Tinubu reinforces dictatorship and portrays Nigeria as a lawless fiefdom where executive whims trump judicial finality,” the statement read. “It signals weakness to our oppressors and implies guilt when the law has already exonerated him.”

IPOB called on Biafrans, Nigerians, and the international community to join in demanding Kanu’s “immediate and unconditional release,” warning that those who continue appealing for pardon risk being seen as “enablers of oppression.”

The statement concluded with a call for mass mobilisation through protests, legal actions, and global advocacy to enforce the Court of Appeal’s verdict.

“History will judge those who stand by while injustice prevails,” IPOB warned.