Jailed leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) Nnamdi Kanu has been granted honorary citizenship of the State of Georgia in the United States.
Mr. Kanu was also adopted as an “Outstanding Citizen” and accorded every courtesy as a Goodwill Ambassador from Georgia.
The proclamation was made by Georgia’s Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger, on behalf of the Republican-controlled state.
A letter dated January 16, was presented on Friday, January 23 at Milledgeville, one of Georgia’s capital cities, by State Representative Gab Okoye.
Former Consul General of Nigeria in South Africa, Ambassador Uche Ajulu-Okeke, received the certificate on Kanu’s behalf.
Mr Ajulu-Okeke described the detained IPOB leader as Africa’s most famous political prisoner and a global prisoner of conscience.
The proclamation read in part, “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 to other states, to nations beyond the borders of the United States of America, or wherever he may hereafter travel or reside.”
Nnamdi Kanu is currently serving a life sentence in Sokoto prison following his conviction by Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court in Abuja.
The IPOB leader was convicted on charges related to treasonable offences, which he has denied.
He has maintained that his trial and conviction were based on a law he argues does not exist and has indicated plans to challenge the judgment at the Court of Appeal.
Kanu was arrested in Kenya and returned to Nigeria in 2021.
