The African Union (AU), the United Nations (UN), and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) have been urged by the American Military Veterans of Igbo Descent (AVID) to demand the immediate and unconditional release of Nnamdi Kanu, an advocate for Biafra, from detention.
For the past four years, Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), has been detained.
AVID specifically requested that the UK government take decisive action to protect Kanu, a British citizen whose fundamental rights have been egregiously violated.
In a statement issued on Tuesday in Abuja, the American Military Veterans of Igbo Descent pleaded with the international media to hold the Nigerian government accountable for enabling ethnic cleansing while suppressing dissent.
Apparently reacting to the continued killings in Benue State and some parts of the country, the group claimed that Kanu’s continued detention is the green light for more massacres and pleaded that the world must not stay silent in the matter.
The statement signed by AVID President, Dr. Sylvester Onyia, is titled ‘A Genocide in Slow Motion: Nigerian’s continued detention of Nnamdi Kanu enables widespread atrocities’.
It read in part, “The American Veterans of Igbo Descent (AVID) wishes to draw the urgent attention of the international community, human rights organizations, and global democratic institutions to the ongoing atrocities occurring in Benue State and other indigenous regions of Nigeria.
“These massacres are part of a sustained ethnic cleansing campaign that has accelerated since the illegal abduction and detention of our leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.
In blatant defiance of international law, British national Mazi Kanu, a well-known advocate for indigenous self-determination, was extrajudicially removed from Kenya in 2021.
His ongoing arrest in spite of numerous court orders for his release is not the result of a legal blunder; rather, it is a part of a larger, chilling scheme to stifle opposition to armed Fulani expansionism and make it possible for indigenous communities to be violently subjugated.
The media’s coverage of the most recent mass murders in Benue State has highlighted the price of stifling dissenting opinions.
“Mazi Kanu repeatedly forewarned of this looming tragedy, the deliberate annexation of native territories through state-sponsored terror masquerading as attacks by herdsmen.
His foretelling was disregarded. Rather, he was called a terrorist, while the Nigerian government empowers the real terrorists.
The question now facing the world is: Why is a nonviolent supporter of self-determination imprisoned while Fulani militants are allowed to walk freely?
Why does the Nigerian government prioritize stifling criticism over preserving human life? What part did foreign actors’ silence play in making this genocide-by-default possible?
“More massacres are permitted as long as Nnamdi Kanu is detained.” The world can’t remain silent.
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