Kanu Jailed While Cleric Offering N1m Bounty Walks Free – Ex-US Mayor Tells US Congress

A former United States mayor, Mike Arnold, has accused Nigerian authorities of applying selective justice, citing the continued detention of Nnamdi Kanu while an Islamic cleric who allegedly placed a N1 million bounty on a Christian pastor remains free.

Arnold, who is the founder and chairman of Africa Arise International and Africa Arise USA, made the remarks during a presentation at a hearing before the United States Congress, excerpts of which were later shared on his Facebook page.

According to him, Nigeria is standing at a defining moment, facing what he described as two possible futures  becoming “America’s greatest African ally, innovative, peaceful and prosperous,” or turning into “the greatest security threat of our lifetime, a sharia-exporting giant.”

In his address, Arnold traced Nigeria’s historical evolution from the pre-colonial era to the present, arguing that the country is failing to adequately confront what he described as the spread of radical Islamic insurgency.

He rejected the widely used “farmer-herder clashes” narrative surrounding insecurity in parts of the country, insisting instead that “Nigeria is in the throes of an Islamic conquest.”

To support his argument, Arnold referenced the case of Kanu, leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), who was convicted in November 2025 on terrorism-related charges and sentenced to life imprisonment.

He described Kanu, a British-Nigerian dual national, as having been abducted from Kenya in June 2021 in what international human rights groups reportedly termed an extraordinary rendition before being returned to Nigeria for trial.

Arnold further claimed that parts of the law used in securing Kanu’s conviction had earlier been nullified by an Enugu High Court in 2023. He also criticized the decision to transfer Kanu to Sokoto shortly after sentencing, describing it as a move that distanced him from his family and legal counsel.

In contrast, he pointed to a viral case involving a northern-based Islamic cleric who allegedly placed a ₦1 million bounty on the head of a Jos-based pastor, identified as Emmanuel Sunday Garba, for allegedly insulting Prophet Muhammad.

According to Arnold, despite public outrage and calls for the cleric’s arrest, the cleric later doubled the bounty to ₦2 million in a Hausa-language video and openly challenged the Department of State Services (DSS) to arrest him.

He said no arrest was made, no charges were filed, and no formal condemnation came from the Nigerian government.

“The Nigerian government goes to great expense to rehabilitate the killers, while millions of innocent displaced victims are denied, neglected, and dying,” Arnold said.

He urged the US Congress to demand the release of Kanu and what he described as other prisoners of conscience, while also calling for asylum protection for those allegedly threatened by the Nigerian government.

Arnold also criticized Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III, the Sultan of Sokoto, accusing him of failing to strongly condemn ongoing killings and of supporting the expansion of Sharia into predominantly Christian southern states.

He alleged that while the Sultan issued a fatwa in 2015 discouraging recruitment into Boko Haram, he had not made similar forceful condemnations against other extremist groups operating in northern Nigeria.

He further claimed that in 2025, the Sultan publicly supported the establishment of Sharia arbitration panels in southern states such as Ekiti State and Oyo State, describing it as an expansion of Islamic legal structures into traditionally non-Sharia regions.