The jailed leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, has been awarded honorary citizenship of the State of Georgia in the United States.
Kanu was also recognised as an ‘Outstanding Citizen’ who should be “accorded every courtesy as a Goodwill Ambassador from Georgia.”
The proclamation was issued by Georgia’s Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger, on behalf of the Republican-controlled US state.
The proclamation letter, dated January 16, 2026, was presented on Friday, January 23, 2026, in Milledgeville, one of Georgia’s capital cities, by State Representative Gab Okoye.
Former Consul General of Nigeria in South Africa, Ambassador Uche Ajulu-Okeke, accepted the certificate of citizenship on Kanu’s behalf.
Ajulu-Okeke described the imprisoned Biafra independence activist as “Africa’s most famous political prisoner and global prisoner of conscience”.
ALSO READ: Court rejects Nnamdi Kanu’s request for transfer from Sokoto prison
The proclamation reads: “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. Thank you for your service to our state.
“In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed the seal of my office, at the State Capitol, in the City of Atlanta, this 16th day of January, A.D. 2026”.
The IPoB leader is currently serving a life sentence in Sokoto prison after his conviction by Justice James Omotosho of an Abuja Federal Court.
Kanu was tried for treasonable offenses, which he continues to strongly deny, challenging the prosecution and the court to show the law he allegedly violated.
The IPOB leader, who argued that he was tried and convicted under a non-existent law, has vowed to challenge the judgment at the Court of Appeal.