Kanu Sacks Longtime Lawyer Ejiofor Amid Fresh Rift
The detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, has formally stripped his longtime lawyer, Ifeanyi Ejiofor, of the authority to represent him, his family or the separatist group, even as the lawyer maintains that he voluntarily stepped down as Kanu’s personal counsel more than two years ago.
The dispute followed the emergence of a letter dated July 22, 2026, purportedly written by Kanu from the Sokoto Correctional Centre, terminating Ejiofor’s services. The correspondence was first made public by a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Joe Igbokwe, on his Facebook page.
In the letter, Kanu said Ejiofor’s engagement had earlier been ended verbally, describing the new correspondence as formal written confirmation. He withdrew any express, implied or ostensible authority previously granted to the lawyer to act for IPOB, citing Section II, Subsection A of the IPOB Code of Conduct, which he said vests the power to appoint or dismiss principal officers solely in the group’s leader unless expressly delegated.
Kanu directed Ejiofor to stop making public statements, granting interviews, issuing press releases or posting on social media on his behalf or that of IPOB. He also ordered him to cease presenting himself as counsel in any court and to withdraw from pending matters. On confidentiality, he warned that unauthorised disclosure of privileged information could amount to professional misconduct and attract proceedings before the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee.
Ejiofor rejected the account. In a signed statement on Facebook, he said he disengaged as Kanu’s private counsel in December 2023, long before the conviction, though his firm remained solicitors to IPOB. He claimed that between December 2023 and 2025, his team secured the discharge and acquittal of more than 200 alleged IPOB members before the Federal High Court in Abuja and the High Courts of Ebonyi and Abia states. He argued that Kanu never personally appointed him as the group’s solicitor and questioned the authenticity of the letter, noting that under the Nigerian Correctional Service Act, inmate communications must bear authentication by the officer in charge of the facility.
The matter escalated further. In a statement attributed to its spokesman, Emma Powerful, IPOB insisted on Tuesday that Ejiofor “remains sacked,” describing his claim of reaffirmation as false and stating that the letter had been notarised before a lawyer in Sokoto. Ejiofor, in an earlier response, dismissed what he called “the curious panic of those confronted by nothing but silence,” alleging years of blackmail and frivolous petitions, while adding, “The time has not yet come for me to divulge professionally obtained information.”
The fallout unfolds against a decade of litigation. Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court, Abuja, convicted Kanu on November 20, 2025 on all seven terrorism related counts, imposing life imprisonment on four counts, 20 years on one and five years on another, to run concurrently. The judge ordered that Kanu be denied access to digital devices and kept in protective custody.
Kanu was first arrested in Lagos in October 2015. He fled in 2017 after soldiers raided his Abia home, was rearrested in Kenya in June 2021, and returned to trial. The Supreme Court reversed a 2022 acquittal in December 2023 and ordered continuation. Justice Binta Nyako recused herself in early 2025, Omotosho took over in March, and the government closed its case in June with five witnesses. Kanu sacked his legal team in October 2025 and opted to represent himself.
On February 4, 2026, he filed a notice of appeal seeking to quash the conviction and secure an acquittal on all counts. That appeal remains pending, leaving the question of who validly speaks for him, and for IPOB, unresolved.