Nnamdi Kanu: UK-Based Igbo Lawyers Give Buhari ultimatum, Consider ICC Action

A group of UK-based Igbo lawyers has described as illegal the arrest and detention of Nnamdi Kanu, leader of Indigenous People of Biafra, by the Nigerian government.

It said the failure of the Nigerian government to do would tantamount to a declaration of war on the entire Igbo.

In a statement sent to Sahara Reporters, the Coalition of Igbo-British lawyers condemned the Kenyan Government for arresting Kanu, a British citizen and handing him over to the Nigerian government.

Ebuka Okoroafor, who signed the statement said the Kenyan government has violated the human rights of Kanu, who possesses both Nigerian and British passports.

“Coalition of Igbo-British lawyers condemns the illegal detention and subsequent handing over of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu to the Nigerian government by the Kenyan Government.

“The Coalition of Igbo-British lawyers in a statement issued and signed by Attorney E.R Okoroafor on the 30th of June, 2021 at his Glasgow residence in the United Kingdom has condemned the illegal and archaic manner in which the Kenyan Government has acted in the illegal detention of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.

“It also condemned the subsequent handing him over to the Nigerian Government without any due process.

“It is worthy of note to mention that Mazi Nnamdi Kanu entered Kenya with his British passport, and the Kenyan government is fully aware of his citizenship status but still went ahead to perpetrate their illegal activities which does not only breach the personal human rights of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu but also undermine the sovereignty of the British government,” the statement read in part.

The group also said that the illegal action will be addressed at the International Criminal Court, in Hague, The Netherlands.

“While this serves as a pre-action notice to the Kenyan Government as we shall be heading to the International Criminal Court to rectify the injustice done as it is trite law that injustice to one is injustice to all, we are also by this medium informing the Nigerian Government that they have 48 hours to return Mazi Nnamdi Kanu to the United Kingdom.

“And if he has any charges to answer to, they should as a nation that is governed by the constitution, pass through the legal means of filing an extradition notice, as failure to do so, we shall not hesitate to term this a declaration of war on not only Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and IPOB but all Igbo generally, and this we shall vehemently resist with all apparatus of law available at our disposal.

“While all this is being done, the Nigerian government is also being warned that no bodily harm whatsoever must be done to Mazi Nnamdi Kanu to avoid a total breakdown of law and order in the fast crumbling entity called Nigeria,” the Igbo–British lawyers added in the statement.