From Prison to Global Honour: U.S. State Confers Honorary Citizenship on Nnamdi Kanu

The detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, has been awarded Honorary Citizenship of the State of Georgia, United States of America.
Kanu was also adopted as an “Outstanding Citizen” to 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 state government.
Dated January 16, 2026, the proclamation was formally presented on Friday, January 23, 2026, in Milledgeville, one of Georgia’s capital cities, by State Representative Gab Okoye.
The certificate was received on Kanu’s behalf by former Nigerian Consul General to South Africa, Ambassador Uche Ajulu-Okeke, who described him as “Africa’s most famous political prisoner and global prisoner of conscience.”
Part of 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, nations beyond the borders of the United States of America, or wherever he may hereafter travel or reside.”
Kanu is currently serving a life sentence at Sokoto Prison following his conviction by Justice James Omotosho of the Abuja Federal High Court over treason-related charges.
The IPOB leader has consistently denied the allegations, insisting he was prosecuted under a non-existent law, and has vowed to challenge the judgment at the Court of Appeal.
Kanu was arrested in Kenya and extraordinarily rendered to Nigeria in 2021 under the administration of late President Muhammadu Buhari.