Nnamdi Kanu UK silence condemned by IPOB over continued illegal detention. Group urges UK to demand his release and uphold international human rights law

Nnamdi Kanu UK silence has drawn strong condemnation from the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), who accuse the British Government of complicity in ongoing human rights violations against its citizen.

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In a statement on Wednesday, IPOB spokesperson Emma Powerful criticized the UK for its “continued silence and apparent complicity” in what the group described as Nigeria’s flagrant disregard for domestic and international law.

Kanu, a British citizen and leader of IPOB, was forcibly abducted from Kenya in June 2021 in what the UN, Kenyan High Court, and Nigerian Court of Appeal have all termed an illegal extraordinary rendition.

“The UK Government’s refusal to publicly condemn this act, despite the UN’s clear ruling for Kanu’s release and compensation, is disgraceful,” the statement read.

Powerful pointed to legal precedents including Nigeria’s Supreme Court decision in Dikko v. The State affirming that trials resulting from illegal extraditions are nullities under both Nigerian and international law.

The UK, IPOB says, acted decisively in the 1984 Dikko Affair, condemning Nigeria’s attempted abduction of a former minister. Yet, in Kanu’s case, it has remained “silent under the pretext of dual nationality.”

Powerful further argued that Kanu’s alleged political broadcasts the basis of the Nigerian charges were not criminalized under UK law, making any Nigerian prosecution a violation of the “double criminality” rule under Section 76 of Nigeria’s Terrorism Act.

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“The UK must decide: uphold human rights or protect political allies,” IPOB charged. “History will judge where Britain stood in this defining moment.”