By Chucks Nwonye
Nnamdi Kanu, the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, has turned down an arranged transfer from Sokoto Correctional Centre to Abuja, his wife Uchechigeme Anyanwụụtụtụ Okwu-Kanu said in a public statement released on July 29, 2026.
The clarification comes months after speculation over why Kanu remained in Sokoto despite reported efforts to move him closer to the federal capital.
According to Okwu-Kanu, the transfer plan only emerged after the courts declined Kanu’s own request for relocation.
The court application
Kanu had filed an ex parte application before Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court seeking to be moved from Sokoto to Abuja. The prison in Sokoto is more than 700 kilometres from Abuja, where his trial proceedings have been held.
On December 8, 2025, Justice Omotosho refused the request, ruling that such an order could not be granted without first hearing from the Federal Government.
The case later returned to court. It was ultimately struck out after counsel from the Legal Aid Council sought to withdraw. The council had earlier been appointed to represent Kanu, after which he opted to represent himself.
Wife says push was humanitarian
In her statement, Okwu-Kanu said she had advocated for the transfer from the beginning of his detention in Sokoto, not for political reasons.
“My concern was never political. It was humanitarian, legal and practical,” she wrote. She argued the distance made family visits, legal consultations and access to case files “unnecessarily difficult.”
While she pursued diplomatic channels, including engagement with the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, Kanu separately filed his court application.
After the December refusal, Okwu-Kanu said she continued pressing official channels. She later received confirmation from an FCDO case handler that arrangements for the transfer had been concluded.
Why Kanu declined
At that point, she was told her husband had declined to be moved.
Following her request for an explanation, it was relayed to her that Kanu believed the court’s earlier rejection had been manipulated. In his view, there was no legitimate reason for the court to refuse the request.
“He therefore chose to remain in Sokoto, preferring that if he eventually regained his freedom, he would go directly home from there rather than accept a transfer obtained through a different process,” Okwu-Kanu stated.
“From day one, I believed that transferring him to Abuja was in his best interests for his safety, his welfare, his access to legal representation and his family’s ability to visit him. I pursued that objective consistently until I was informed that he had chosen otherwise.”
Okwu-Kanu said the purpose of the clarification was to end months of speculation about the transfer issue.
She announced that the next phase of advocacy would focus on securing Kanu’s release and return home, and appealed directly to IPOB supporters.
“Biafrans, this is the time to prove that #IPOB is one family. You all did it when I started the #FreeNnamdiKanu petition while those who love him with their lips were not found. Today, there is a subsequent activity and I implore you all to join me.”
Kanu has been in detention since 2021 and faces charges related to his leadership of IPOB, a separatist movement agitating for an independent Biafra. He has previously challenged the conditions of his detention and the venue of his trial.
