The detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPoB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, has been awarded honorary citizenship by the State of Georgia in the United States.
In addition to the honorary status, Kanu was also recognised as an “Outstanding Citizen” and designated a goodwill representative who should be extended full courtesies on behalf of the state of Georgia.
The honour was conveyed through an official proclamation issued by Georgia’s Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger, acting on behalf of the Republican-controlled state government. The document, dated January 16, 2026, was formally presented on Friday, January 23, 2026, in Milledgeville, one of Georgia’s capital cities, by State Representative Gab Okoye.
The certificate of honorary citizenship was received on Kanu’s behalf by former Nigerian Consul General to South Africa, Ambassador Uche Ajulu-Okeke, who described the incarcerated separatist leader as one of Africa’s most prominent political detainees and a prisoner of conscience.
According to the proclamation, Secretary Raffensperger declared Nnamdi Okwu Kanu an Honorary Citizen of the State of Georgia, urging that he be treated with due respect and courtesy as a goodwill ambassador during any future travels within the United States or abroad. The proclamation was issued under the official seal of the Secretary of State at the Georgia State Capitol in Atlanta.
Kanu is currently serving a life sentence at a correctional facility in Sokoto following his conviction by Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court in Abuja.
He was found guilty of treason-related charges, which he has consistently denied. Kanu has maintained that his prosecution and conviction were based on laws that do not exist, insisting that the court failed to identify any statute he violated. He has vowed to challenge the ruling at the Court of Appeal.
The IPoB leader was arrested in Kenya in 2021 and forcibly returned to Nigeria in what his supporters describe as an extraordinary rendition, an action that occurred during the administration of the late President Muhammadu Buhari.
