Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, the embattled leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), has sent an open letter to the British High Commissioner in Nigeria demanding the separatist’s immediate release.
A copy of the letter, made available to Newsmen on Tuesday by Kanu’s Special Counsel, Aloy Ejimakor, criticised the Department of State Services’ continued detention of the Biafra agitator (DSS).
Kanu’s international lawyer, Bruce Fein, has requested a meeting with the British Commissioner to Nigeria in Abuja, citing the coming change in the Nigerian government and the fact that the Biafra activist is suffering from health concerns in custody.
Demand For Immediate Release of Nnamdi Kanu – Kanu’s Brother Tells UK Govt
Fein recalls Kanu being a British citizen and the Nigerian government collaborating with Kenya to abduct and torture him in Nairobi in June 2021.
He also criticized Kanu’s extraordinary rendition to Abuja, claiming that the IPOB leader had been held in solitary detention indefinitely without a trial by the Nigerian government on fabricated treason allegations.
Fein also cited the July 20, 2022 verdict of the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, which stated that Kanu’s detention violated sixteen (16) international human rights covenants.
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Read the full letter below:
“Re: Nnamdi Kanu-Biafra sovereignty
Dear Dr. Montgomery:
I am Nnamdi Kanu’s international lawyer and spokesman.
Congratulations on your appointment.
Nigeria has been challenged as a nation since independence from involuntary British colonial rule in 1960. The United Kingdom has sought to make partial amends for participating in the racist Scramble for Africa by returning looted Benin City artefacts stolen by marauding British soldiers.
But the British stole something far more valuable than artworks in Nigeria. The United Kingdom stole the right to self-determination and government by the consent of the governed in herding Biafrans at gunpoint in 1914 under a single sovereign umbrella pursuant to a cynical divide-and-conquer colonial policy. The American Revolution of 1776 carved a universal right to self-determination by distinct peoples into marble.
Igbos, Hausa-Fulani, and Yorubas were distinct peoples with incompatible religions, histories, traditions, cultures, values, and governing structures. No African was given a voice in the boundaries of Nigeria. When Britain hastily decamped in 1960, the merciless 1967-1970 genocide of Biafrans at the hands of the Nigerian government assisted by the UK was as foreseeable as the rising and setting of the sun.
Nnamdi Kanu is a United Kingdom citizen. He is the leader of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB). Its mission is to secure the right to self-determination for 70 million Biafrans, which the British filched more than a century ago, through peaceful avenues of redress. The Fulani-controlled, radical Muslim government of Nigeria attempted to assassinate Mr. Kanu in his home in 2017 for his peaceful advocacy of self-determination—a fundamental human right under international human rights laws. Nigerian courts have ordered the government of Nigeria to pay reparations to Mr. Kanu for its attempted assassination.
In June 2021, Nigeria conspired with Kenya to kidnap and torture Mr. Kanu in Nairobi followed by his extraordinary rendition to Abuja. There, Mr. Kanu has been detained indefinitely in solitary confinement without a trial by the Nigerian government on concocted charges of treason.
On July 20, 2022, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention issued an Opinion finding Mr. Kanu’s detention violated sixteen (16) international human rights covenants. The Working Group ordered his “immediate and unconditional” release and payment of reparations. The Government of Nigeria remains in contempt of the Working Group’s order more than eight months after its issuance.
Your predecessor idled in lieu of confronting the Government of Nigeria with its legal obligation to release a UK citizen without tarry. Indeed, she relied on the lawless Fulani-controlled government and Biafran quislings in the Southeast to accept Orwellian propaganda about Nnamdi Kanu and Biafra.
Compare her anemic defense of a wrongly accused and detained UK citizen found innocent by an impartial, international tribunal with the muscular United States efforts to secure the release of permanent resident Paul Rusesabagina, “Hotel Rwanda” filmmaker, from Rwandan imprisonment. Mr. Rusesabagina had been convicted of financially supporting violent Rwandan rebels in a Rwandan court. U.S. Secretary of State Tony Blinken and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan exerted unremitting pressure on Rwandan President Paul Kagame to obtain a commutation of sentence on March 24, 2023.
Why is the UK refusing to follow the laudable United States example as regards Nnamdi Kanu? Great countries are made of sterner stuff.
I would respectfully request an opportunity to meet with you in Abuja to explore avenues to secure Nigeria’s compliance with the Working Group’s order for the immediate and unconditional release of Mr Kanu. The time is propitious because of the impending change in the Nigerian government and urgent because of Mr Kanu’s rapidly declining health.
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