Kanu’s trial: IPOB leader’s family accuses UK of betrayal, threatens to hold Britain responsible if…
Kanu’s trial: IPOB leader’s family accuses UK of betrayal, threatens to hold Britain responsible if…
By Ndukaku Ihe
The family of Nnamdi Kanu, leader of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), has accused the United Kingdom (UK) Government of betrayal following the rendition and trial of their son.
This is even as the family has threatened to hold Britain responsible should anything happen to her son while in detention.
A statement titled “Britain’s blood-stain hand in the unfolding tragedy of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and signed by the spokesperson of the family, Prince Emmanuel Kanu said it was with hearts burdened by sorrow that the family issues the declaration to the world.
“We do so not only in defense of our beloved brother, father and uncle, but in defense of truth, justice, and the sacred memory of the over five million Biafrans slaughtered during Britain’s orchestrated genocide from 1967 to 1970. The United Kingdom has never stopped killing Biafrans. Only the methods have changed.”
The statement said presently, the same British government that armed Nigeria to starve Biafran children to death, now stands accused of a far more cowardly crime—the silent orchestration and diplomatic shielding of an illegal rendition, torture, and political show trial of a British citizen (Kanu) for exercising freedoms guaranteed under British law.
The statement read in part, “Let the world take note: Were Mazi Nnamdi Kanu to die in the custody of the Nigerian government, it would be to the eternal shame and blood-drenched legacy of the United Kingdom.
“In June 2021, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, a lawful British citizen and leader of a peaceful self-determination movement—IPOB, registered under UK law—was abducted in Nairobi, Kenya, subjected to extraordinary rendition without due process, and illegally transferred to Nigeria by operatives whose trail the British authorities have deliberately ignored.
“This transnational crime was carried out in clear violation of Kenyan and international law. Yet Britain said nothing. Worse still, their silence gave Nigeria the license to act with impunity.
“Why was the British High Commission in Nairobi inactive while a British citizen was drugged, tortured, and flown out in chains? Why was the UK Foreign Office complicit in turning a blind eye to this abduction that violated every known treaty obligation under international human rights and consular law?
“The answer is now painfully clear: Britain was not merely a bystander. Britain was a co-conspirator.
“Following his illegal rendition, the UK Government pretended to be engaged. British Consular officials visited Mazi Nnamdi Kanu in DSS custody in Abuja. He asked one simple question:
‘Why is the United Kingdom allowing a British citizen to be tried for broadcasts made in the UK, where both IPOB and Radio Biafra are lawful entities?’
“The response was both evasive and insidious: ‘We’ll get back to you.’ But they never did.”
The statement added that, “Instead, within four days of that meeting, Nigeria’s then-Attorney General, Abubakar Malami quietly amended the charges against Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, removing ‘London, United Kingdom’ as the alleged location of the offences. The only logical inference is that the British authorities either advised Nigeria to do this or consented to a cover-up to evade the UK’s own jurisdictional responsibilities.
“Despite IPOB’s legal status in the UK and the total absence of any UK court order outlawing its activities, the British Government has continually refused to challenge the unlawful prosecution of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu in Nigeria.”
Emmanuel went further to state that British Government’s “We cannot interfere in a Nigerian trial” position in the trial of Kanu was not just false, but a betrayal.
“The UK Government has, in fact, interfered constantly—by suppressing evidence, shielding Nigerian impunity, and erasing its own culpability from the chain of events that led to Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s ongoing ordeal.”
Accusing the British Government further of being anti Igbo in their dealings with Nigeria, the statement added, “In 1968, they supplied the arms that killed Biafran children.
“In 2021, they supplied the silence that allowed their citizen to be kidnapped and tortured. What exactly did the Igbo people do to Britain to deserve this generational hatred?
“Is it our resilience, our enterprise, or our refusal to bow to colonial structures masquerading as post-colonial governments? Why is it that every time an Igbo leader rises to speak truth to power, Britain rushes to undermine him?”
While saying Britain’s hatred for the Igbo people has outlived colonialism, Emmanuel enthused, “What they could not achieve with bombs and starvation in 1967, they now pursue through legal manipulation, judicial collusion, and geopolitical deceit.
“We defy the centuries of British deception in Africa. We defy the silence that enables crimes against our people.
And we defy the notion that a British citizen can be abducted, tortured, and tried abroad without the UK lifting a finger. If Britain cannot protect its own citizen, then it should admit publicly that some British citizens are more equal than others.”
While the family is demanding immediate return of their son to either Kenya or the United Kingdom, it said it holds Britain responsible should anything happen to their brother “not because they failed to act, but because they chose to act on the side of evil. Their silence is not neutrality. It is an endorsement of tyranny.”
