A United States congressman Jarvis Johnson has appealed to the US Congress for urgent intervention in the extraordinary rendition and continued detention of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.
In a letter dated May 10, 2023 and sighted by IgbereTV, Johnson said Nnamdi Kanu may not survive if urgent steps are not taking for his immediate and unconditional release.
Read the letter in full below.
Dear, US Member of Congress May 10 , 2023
This is an appeal for your urgent intervention to urge the Government of Nigeria (GON) to release Mazi Nnamdi Kanu (MNK) from his Extraordinary Rendition dating back to June 27,2021.
MNK is from the lgbo ethnic nation in the Eastern part of Nigeria. There are over 60 million lgbos worldwide. About 3 million reside in the USA, primarily in states such as Texas, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, New York, and the Greater Washington DC Area, including the states of Maryland and Virginia. The lgbos are predominantly Christians.
For over 50 years, the lgbos have been engaged In a struggle for self- determination. In the mid-1960’s they were partially successful with the establishment of the sovereign State of Biafra. Unfortunately, this led to a civil war which lasted for about three years (1967-1970) during which the Nigerian Government massacred over 3 million lgbos in what ls now commonly acknowledged as a genocide. But the struggle for self determination and freedom by The lgbo was not murdered; it shall never die.
In 2012, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) entity was formed in the UK. Since then, MNK, a British citizen who resides in London with his wife and kids, has been its leader. IPOB has branches\chapters in the USA\North America, Europe, Africa, and Asia. IPOB owns and operates from the UK, an Internet radio, known as Radio Biafra. Radio Biafra has for years remained the leading primary organ utilized to advocate for a Referendum in Nigeria to resolve the inherent structural and other defects in the country of Nigeria, and for freedom for the lgbos. MNK is the leading advocale of this slruggle for self determination.
MNK’s persecution by the Nigerian Government has increasingly intensified since 2015 when he visited Nigeria from London. First, a few days after his arrival, on October 14, 2015, he was arrested in Lagos by agents of the GON. He was held in solitary confinement by the Department of State Security (DSS), the GoN’s Secret Police. Ultimately, he was granted ball by the Nigerian Courts.
After his release, he resided primarily in his ancestral home in Abia State, Nigeria with his parents, siblings, and other extended family members. On October 10, 2017 to October 14, 2017, the Nigerian Military attacked and invaded his home. In the process, dozens of people were murdered, many were wounded and maimed for life, many others were captured alive and have now ‘disappeared’.
Fortunately, MNK escaped the invasion, and returned to his London residence to reunite with his nuclear family.
On May 12, 2021, MNK traveled to Nairobi, Kenya, as a British citizen and was legally admitted into Kenya. On June 19, 2021, MNK was abducted in Nairobi by agents of the GoN. He disappeared in Nairobi and was tortured for eight days. On June 27, 2021, he was extradited by GoN to Nigeria.This fact has been admitted by the GoN via its Minister of Justice\Attorney General, Mr. Abubakar Malaml. It was also confirmed by the then Kenyan High Commissioner to Nigeria, who shortly thereafter died under mysterious circumstances .
That MNK was extraordinarily renditioned has been judicially affirmed by the Nigerian Courts and the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention. As a result of the persistent and consistent efforts of The Kanu Family, the UK’s Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and Its Foreign Affairs Committee (FAC) have engaged in insufficient efforts to secure his release from the GoN’s extraordinary rendition. For additional information on the Nigerian Courts and UN Opinions holding that MNK was extraordinarily renditioned to Nigeria, discharging and acquitting him of all charges, and ordering\directing his “unconditional and immediate release”, I have attached my press releases of January 9, 2023 and November 22, 2022. Additional information on the UK proceedings is available at the website of Bindmans LLP, the UK solicitors for The Kanu Family.
Extraordinary rendition is Illegal under our laws and policy. Congress explicitly clarified and codified this In the Foreign Affairs Reform and Restructuring Act of 1998 (FARRA) reprinted In 8 U.S.C. Sec. 1231 (Historical and Statutory Notes (1999). Congress reaffirmed its intent and policy in the Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act for the Iraq War…,2005 (P.L 109-13). White House news releases have also noted the illegality of extraordinary rendition.
There is no debate that the UN, Western Democracies including the UK and US uniformly prohibit extraordinary rendition, as do the Nigerian courts and the Kenyan Government. Nevertheless, the GoN continues to disobey its own court orders and to ignore the unanimity of laws prohibiting extraordinary rendition.
For months now, it is public knowledge that MNK’s health condition has deteriorated, and continues to do so on a daily basis. He suffers from a serious heart condition and other ailments for which he is not getting medical attention. There is now a growing fear\concern that the present GoN (Buhari Administration) intends to assassinate or cause his disappearance prior to May 29,2023 when it plans to hand him over to an incoming Administration. This fear is rooted in the fact that a primary goal of the Fulani dominated Buhari Administration is the extermination of and\or the forced lslamization of the Christian lgbos.
I urge you to use your good offices to urgently intervene with the GoN to immediately and unconditionally release Mazi Nmandi Kanu from his solitary confinement and end his extraordinary rendition to Nigeria. Time is of the essence !
The right of self-determination is a natural right, and is enshrined in our foundational documents-The Declaration of Independence and Constitution. It has been, and is our policy and practice to support this right as we are now doing In Ukraine. What is good for the Ukrainiansis also good for MNK and the lgbos.
I look forward to hearing from you, working with you\your office to accomplish this goal-the urgent unconditional and immediate release of MNK.
Sincerely,
Jarvis Johnson
State Representative, District
