The leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPoB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, has been granted Honorary Citizenship of the State of Georgia, United States, in a proclamation issued by Georgia’s Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger.
Kanu was also recognised as an “Outstanding Citizen” to be “accorded every courtesy as a Goodwill Ambassador from Georgia,” according to the proclamation dated January 16, 2026. The certificate was presented on January 23 in Milledgeville by Georgia State Representative, Gab Okoye, and received on Kanu’s behalf by former Nigerian Consul General to South Africa, Ambassador Uche Ajulu-Okeke.
Ajulu-Okeke described Kanu as “Africa’s most famous political prisoner and global prisoner of conscience” during the presentation.
The proclamation states: “I, Brad Raffensperger, Secretary of State of the State of Georgia, do hereby proclaim Nnamdi Okwu Kanu as an Honorary Georgia Citizen. May this Outstanding Citizen be accorded every courtesy as a Goodwill Ambassador from Georgia in his travels…”
Kanu is currently serving a life sentence at a correctional facility in Sokoto following his conviction by an Abuja Federal High Court presided over by Justice James Omotosho on treason-related charges. He has consistently denied the allegations and is challenging the ruling at the Court of Appeal.
IPoB has maintained that Kanu was tried under what it described as a non-existent law and has continued to question the legal basis of the conviction. The group has also reiterated its position that Kanu was abducted in Kenya and subjected to extraordinary rendition to Nigeria in 2021.
