Nnamdi Kanu, Simon Ekpa’s imprisonment improved South East, Nigeria’s security — Army

In a comprehensive year-end security briefing on Friday, January 2, 2026, the Nigerian military announced a significant de-escalation of violence in the South-East. Major General Michael Onoja, the Director of Defence Media Operations, attributed the improved security conditions to a combination of intensified kinetic operations and the decisive removal of key separatist leaders from the operational field.

According to General Onoja, the jailing of Simon Ekpa who was sentenced to six years in prison by a Finnish court in September 2025 and the life imprisonment sentence handed to Mazi Nnamdi Kanu in Abuja in November 2025, have fundamentally disrupted the command-and-control structures of extremist groups in the region. He noted that the absence of these leaders has severely weakened the ability of these groups to coordinate high-profile attacks or enforce widespread civil disruptions.

“Crimes and other criminal activities have significantly decreased during the year following troops’ intensified operations across the South-Eastern states, as well as the recent court rulings against their leader, Simon Ekpa, who was jailed by the Government of the Republic of Finland, and Mazi Nnamdi Kanu. We have substantially degraded their capabilities, particularly their reliance on attacking lightly manned checkpoints to seize weapons for further terror.”

While the military maintains that these judicial and tactical successes have restored a level of stability, the Mazi Nnamdi Kanu Defence Consortium issued a sharp rebuttal today. Represented by Onyedikachi Ifedi, the legal team accused the military of “whitewashing history,” arguing that the primary drivers of insecurity in the region remain state-led violence and economic marginalization rather than separatist activities.

Despite this pushback, the Defence Headquarters insisted that the focus for 2026 will remain on consolidating these gains. General Onoja emphasized that security forces will maintain their presence across the five South-Eastern states to prevent any attempt by criminal elements to regroup or re-establish the “unknown gunmen” cells that had previously terrorized the zone.