Concerns over the safety of Nnamdi Kanu have intensified following recent United States air strikes on terrorist targets in Sokoto State, prompting his legal team to renew calls for his transfer from the area.

Aloy Ejimakor, counsel to the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, said the security situation in Sokoto has been further exposed by the military operation, arguing that the prison holding his client is no longer safe.

The United States military confirmed that it carried out multiple air strikes on ISIS-linked fighters in Jabo village, Sokoto. According to US Africa Command, the operation was conducted at the request of Nigerian authorities. US President Donald Trump described the strikes as powerful and deadly.

Reacting to the development, Ejimakor took to X to demand the immediate relocation of Kanu from the Sokoto Correctional Facility. He said the attack validated long-standing concerns about terrorism in the region.

According to him, the air strikes showed that Sokoto is deeply affected by terrorist activity and was never a suitable place to detain his client. He added that relocating Kanu out of what he described as the terrorist belt of northern Nigeria has now become an urgent matter.

Kanu was remanded at the Sokoto prison after a Federal High Court in Abuja convicted him on November 20 on a seven-count charge related to terrorism. He was sentenced to life imprisonment.

On December 8, the same court declined an application seeking his transfer to a correctional facility within the Federal Capital Territory or nearby states. The judge, James Omotosho, ruled that the request could not be made through an ex parte application.

The court also held that the federal government and the Nigerian Correctional Service should have been joined as parties to the suit. As a result, the matter was adjourned until January 27, 2026, to allow Kanu to properly serve the prosecution and the correctional authorities before the motion is heard.

Meanwhile, the call for Kanu’s relocation has drawn criticism from some quarters. Bashir Ahmad, former special assistant on digital communications to ex-President Muhammadu Buhari, dismissed the demand as unjustified.

He said Kanu remains a convicted terrorist and that the US air strikes were directed at terrorist targets, not civilian facilities. According to Ahmad, there is no reasonable basis, political or otherwise, to request Kanu’s transfer while he serves his sentence in Sokoto.

As debate continues, the court’s ruling and the broader security situation in northern Nigeria are likely to shape the next phase of the legal and political discourse surrounding the IPOB leader.