The American Veterans of Igbo Descent (AVID), an association of retired and serving US military personnel of Igbo origin, has accused the United Kingdom (UK) of enabling the Nigerian government’s alleged persecution of its citizen, Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
Kanu holds a British passport.
AVID, in a statement signed by its President, Dr. Sylvester Onyia, forcefully argued that Kanu is being tried under a “non-existent law” and that “a dead charge cannot kill a living man.” Kanu’s defense maintains that the Terrorism Prevention Amendment Act 2013, under which he was charged, was repealed by the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition Act) 2022. AVID highlighted that one of the charges (Count 7) was already examined by the Supreme Court of Nigeria on December 15, 2023, and declared “incompetent” and “non-existent in the body of our laws.” AVID asserts that despite the Supreme Court ruling and the repeal of the law, the prosecution simply renumbered the charge and forced Kanu to take a fresh plea on March 29, 2025, calling this a “constitutional abomination.”
AVID directly challenged the UK government’s failure to intervene, arguing that its silence amounts to “active complicity” in the legal injustice against its own citizen. The association stressed that the UK is fully aware of the unlawful nature of the trial, yet chooses “silence, indifference, and diplomatic paralysis.” AVID cited centuries of British legal doctrine, including rulings from Lord Camden and works by William Blackstone and A.V. Dicey, which established the principle of Nullum crimen sine lege—no law, no crime. AVID accused the UK, the architect of this doctrine, of looking away while Nigeria violates it against a British national. AVID concluded that the UK’s silence is no longer negligence; it is an “endorsement — a diplomatic green light for persecution,” effectively enabling the mistreatment of its citizen.
With Justice James Omotosho scheduled to deliver judgment on November 20, 2025, AVID demanded the court uphold the Constitution and the Supreme Court’s earlier decision. AVID demanded the court strike out the entire charge and order the immediate, unconditional release of Nnamdi Kanu, stating that anything less would be “judicial rebellion against the Constitution” and “contempt of the Supreme Court.”
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