The State of Georgia in the United States of America has made the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) Mazi Nnamdi Kanu its honorary citizen.
The proclamation to that effect was made by Georgia’s Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger, describing Kanu as an “Outstanding Citizen” who should be “accorded every courtesy as a Goodwill Ambassador from Georgia”.
The proclamation letter dated January 16, 2026, was presented to the new citizen, Kanu, on Friday January 23, 2026 at Milledgeville, one of the capital cities of Georgia, by the State Representative, Gab Okoye.
Former Consul General of Nigeria in South Africa, Ambassador Uche Ajulu-Okeke, received the certificate of citizenship on behalf of Kanu and acknowledged the gesture by the State of Georgia.
She described the imprisoned Biafra independence activist as “Africa’s most famous political prisoner and global prisoner of conscience”.
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”.
Kanu is presently serving a life sentence in Sokoto prison following his conviction by Justice James Omotosho of an Abuja Federal Court, where he was tried for treasonable offences that he continues to vehemently deny.
The IPOB leader was arrested in Kenya and extraordinarily renditioned to Nigeria by agents of the Nigerian government and subsequently put on trial and convicted despite global outrage.
