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IPOB leader petitions world powers, accuses Nigerian judiciary of reckless lawlessness
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Warns of life-threatening risks as detention stretches into fourth year
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Calls on international community to pressure Nigeria into compliance with constitutional rulings
The leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, has escalated his plea for freedom to international corridors of power, petitioning U.S. President Donald Trump, the African Union, and a broad coalition of states and global institutions, over what he describes as persecution sustained through judicial lawlessness.
In a petition circulated to journalists, Kanu appealed to the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, France, the European Union, Amnesty International, the Red Cross, ECOWAS Court, Kenya, South Africa, Israel, Japan, and several other actors, urging urgent intervention in what he called an unlawful detention.
Kanu, in custody since June 2021, declared himself a captive of the Nigerian State and argued that his continued incarceration violates domestic law and international conventions. He cited the October 2022 judgment of the Court of Appeal that discharged and acquitted him after ruling his extraordinary rendition from Kenya illegal, only for the same court to grant what he termed an “illegal stay of execution” weeks later.
He faulted the December 2023 Supreme Court verdict that reinstated the charges, describing it as unconstitutional and tantamount to double jeopardy. Between October 2022 and December 2023, he said, he was held without charge, in breach of Section 35 of the Constitution, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the African Charter.
The IPOB leader accused the Nigerian judiciary of political bias and reckless lawlessness, insisting that documented systemic discrimination against his movement had been ignored. He also turned his anger towards the United Kingdom, accusing it of enabling his plight despite his citizenship.
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Kanu urged global institutions to demand that Nigeria comply with established rulings, including Abacha v. State and Ejiofor v. FRN, and enforce his Court of Appeal discharge retroactively to October 13, 2022.
He pressed for nullification of his detention, declaration of the October 28, 2022 stay as illegal, and his immediate release.
Warning that his prolonged incarceration now places his life at risk, Kanu appealed for swift international intervention to uphold constitutional order and protect his rights.
