ABUJA (Reuters) -A Nigerian court on Wednesday denied a bail request for separatist leader Nnamdi Kanu who is standing trial for terrorism charges and broadcasting falsehoods, one of his defence lawyers told Reuters.
Kanu, a British citizen who leads the banned Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), is standing trial on seven counts of terrorism which the government has brought against him.
He has denied the charges, which are also linked to broadcasts he made between 2018 and last year.
IPOB, which Kanu founded in 2014, is pressing for the secession of a part of southeast Nigeria where the majority of ethe population belongs to the Igbo ethnic group. Authorities view IPOB as a terrorist group. IPOB says it wants to achive independence through non-violent means.
An attempt by Igbo separatists to secede as the Republic of Biafra in 1967 – the year that Kanu was born – triggered a three-year civil war that killed more than 1 million people.
IPOB, has ordered Igbos in the southeast to “sit-at-home”, a form of civil disobedience to show solidarity with Kanu since his arrest and trials in Abuja, crippling small businesses, and other economic activities.
(Reporting by Camillus EbohWriting by Chijioke OhuochaEditing by James Macharia Chege)
