The case of detained Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, has been highlighted at the ongoing 2026 Annual Conference of the International Bar Association (IBA) in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Chief Barrister Maxwell C. Opara, Ph.D., who raised the issue during a session on “Independence of the Judiciary and the Rule of Law,” called on the international legal community to pay closer attention to Kanu’s case and the broader question of judicial independence in Nigeria.
Opara told the gathering of lawyers that many people, particularly in Africa, were languishing in detention not necessarily because they had been convicted on the basis of credible evidence, but because of the involvement or interests of governments in their cases.
According to him, such situations risk transforming matters that ought to be determined strictly on legal principles into political disputes.
Using Kanu’s case as a case study, Opara alleged that the Court of Appeal had discharged Kanu of the charges against him but that the Federal Government subsequently failed to comply with the judgment for several weeks without filing an appeal.
He further alleged that legal principles had been applied inconsistently in the handling of Kanu’s case, which he argued raised serious questions about the independence of the judiciary and the rule of law.
Opara therefore urged the IBA to closely examine the circumstances surrounding Kanu’s case, which he said was pending before the Court of Appeal, and to help guard against what he described as undue governmental interference in judicial proceedings.
He also proposed that the IBA should explore mechanisms for international oversight aimed at strengthening judicial independence across countries.
Drawing an analogy with FIFA’s role in football administration, Opara argued that an international framework for promoting judicial independence could help protect courts from undue political influence and strengthen the rule of law globally.
He said such a mechanism would assist the IBA in advancing its objective of promoting an independent judiciary and ensuring respect for the rule of law across the world.
The 2026 IBA Annual Conference is bringing together lawyers and legal professionals from different parts of the world to discuss contemporary issues affecting the legal profession, justice and the rule of law.
