IPOB Suspends Nnamdi Kanu Indefinitely Over ‘Unguarded Utterances’

The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has announced the indefinite suspension of its leader, Nnamdi Kanu.

The group also revealed that Nnamdi Kanu has been removed as the director of Radio Biafra as part of efforts to reorganise the movement and improve its operations.

The announcement was made in a statement released on Thursday by Chikadibia Edoziem, the heads of IPOB’s Directorate of State (DOS), the organisation’s top decision-making body.

According to the statement, IPOB was “formed and nurtured by Biafrans in the diaspora,” and was not founded by any single person.

The group stressed that its mission remains the restoration of an independent Biafra and that no individual has the power to dismantle its leadership structure.

Edoziem explained that the decision to suspend Kanu was taken during a DOS meeting held on June 17, 2026.

He said the move followed a review of an intelligence report prepared by IPOB’s M-Branch concerning a meeting allegedly involving Kanu and officials of the Department of State Services (DSS) as well as the Nigerian Intelligence Agency (NIA) at Sokoto prison.

He further stated that the DOS noted Kanu’s movements and communications are under DSS surveillance.

According to him, some communications from the prison have allegedly resulted in the arrest and death of certain IPOB members.

Edoziem also claimed there were plans to establish a new militia “through which a new round of violence will be instigated and unleashed in Biafraland.”

He said such plans were aimed at weakening the IPOB movement and eventually dismantling its leadership.

The statement added that Kanu’s suspension was intended to “prevent those individuals or group of individuals who hitherto are minded to commit crime in Biafraland, engage in criminal activities or carry out any actions whatsoever supposedly on the authority of the suspended office of the leader”.

Edoziem said the action will “prevent unchecked actions, reckless assumption of authority and unguarded utterances from resulting in the reckless arrests, torture and needless death of Biafran youths in Biafraland”.

The group also said the suspension would “halt and checkmate individuals and groups not affiliated with IPOB, who claim to derive legitimacy to carry out actions that conflict with IPOB’s mission statement, from the existence of the now suspended office of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra”.

“Any such crime or criminal activity taken in the name of the suspended office of the leader shall not be attributed to IPOB but solely to the person or persons who may have instigated them,” the statement reads.

“IPOB shall hence forward not be held accountable for actions of individuals or group of Individuals not holding any active position within IPOB or for actions of persons not authorized by the Directorate of State to act on behalf of the Indigenous People of Biafra Self-Determination movement.”

KanyiDaily recalls that former Labour Party presidential candidate Peter Obi has called for Nnamdi Kanu’s release of Nnamdi Kanu, saying he sees no valid reason for the continued imprisonment of the IPOB leader.