IPOB: Igbo In Diaspora Seeks Trump’s Intervention To Free Kanu

The Concerned Citizens of Igbo Nation in Diaspora have called on President Donald Trump of the United States to compel the Nigerian government to release the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.

Kanu is being detained in the custody of the Department of State Security in Abuja on the allegation of terrorism. He was arrested in Kenya and brought to Nigeria in 2021.

CCIND made the request in a statement signed by its spokesman, Emeka Livingstone, which was made available to THE WHISTLER on Wednesday.

Entitled “Why the US Department of State Needs to Act Decisively on Nigeria”, the group claimed that Kanu had been in illegal detention in Nigeria for over four years after he was kidnapped in Kenya and tortured for eight days in violation of extradition laws, international treaties, and fundamental human rights before he was forcefully brought to Nigeria.

According to Livingstone, “Despite an Appeal Court judgement delivered in October 2022 which discharged and acquitted him and prohibited further court trials, the Nigerian government refused to set him free in complete disregard for the rule of law.”
The group recalled that on June 24, 2024, a Federal High Court in Kenya ruled that “the abduction and detention of Kanu and his subsequent rendition to Nigeria were unlawful and illegal”.

It noted that the court also awarded Kanu 10 million Kenyan shillings as compensation for damages against the government of Kenya for the illicit role she played in the abduction and rendition.

CCIND therefore called on President Trump “to designate Nigeria as a country of particular concern”.

Quoting the release, “This is absolutely necessary, as Nigeria now harbours a terrorism-friendly government with a grave potential of exporting terrorism to Europe and America.”

It further urged Trump to “compel the government of Nigeria to, as a matter of urgency, release Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, who is illegally detained by the Department of State Security (DSS), and to de-proscribe the Indigenous People of Biafra and release all detained IPOB members without condition.”

It also called on the US government to investigate all public and political officeholders incriminated in the Canadian Federal High Court judgment and issue severe sanctions, including travel bans, international arrest warrants, and economic restrictions on them.

It also sought Trump’s facilitation of an internationally supervised referendum for the indigenous people trapped in Nigeria to decide whether to be part of Nigeria or not.
It maintained that “Kanu is a prisoner of conscience that every conscientious world leader and democratic government must exercise their influence and reach out to the Nigerian government to let him go without condition.”