Stephen Ukandu, Umuahia
Barely 10 months after her husband was allegedly “extraordinarily renditioned” from Kenya to Nigeria in controversial circumstances now a subject of litigation, Mrs. Uchechi Okwu Kanu, wife of the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, has petitioned the United Nations Security Council over the IPOB leader’s alleged abduction, rendition and continued detention in breach of his fundamental human rights.
Mrs. Kanu in the petition by her lawyer, American-born Bruce Fein, asked the UN to also set up a Commission of Inquiry to investigate the alleged torture of her husband, and punish all those involved in the act.
According to the petition, Nigeria and Kenya governments, respectively, cannot be trusted to conduct an objective investigation into the matter, hence the involvement of the world body.
Below is a full text of the petition obtained by Ikengaonline
“Honorable Barbara Woodward
United Kingdom Ambassador to the United Nations and President of the United Nations Security Council 760 United Nations Plaza
“Re: Petition to the United Nations Security Council to establish an independent Commission to investigate the complicity of Nigerian and Kenyan government officials or their agents in the criminal kidnapping, torture, extraordinary rendition, and indefinite arbitrary detention of United Kingdom citizens Nnamdi Kanu from Nairobi to Abuja and for the establishment of a Special Tribunal outside either Nigeria or Kenya to prosecute the suspects identified by the Commission
“We, the undersigned respectfully petition the United Nations Security Council, acting under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter, to pass a resolution establishing an international independent investigation Commission to establish criminal responsibility for Nnamdi Kanu’s kidnapping, torture, and extraordinary rendition from Nairobi, Kenya to Abuja, Nigeria on or about June 2021, and indefinite, ongoing, arbitrary detention in solitary confinement thereafter by the Federal Government of Nigeria. The resolution should also establish a Special Tribunal to prosecute persons the Commission finds have been responsible for Nnamdi Kanu’s kidnapping, torture, extraordinary rendition, and arbitrary detention.
“Convincing evidence in the public domain, direct and circumstantial, implicate Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, Nigerian Attorney General Abubakar Malami, and Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, among others, in the above-referenced crimes against Nnamdi Kanu. The governments of Nigeria and Kenya cannot be trusted to investigate or prosecute themselves. The universal legal principle that a person cannot be a judge in his own case applies here.
“We submit that Security Council Resolution 1595, which established an independent Commission to investigate the assassins of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Harari, and Security Council Resolution 1757, which established a Special Tribunal for the prosecution of the responsible parties found by the independent Commission, should be considered as templates for the corresponding resolutions we are requesting for investigation and prosecution of the crimes against Nnamdi Kanu by Nigerian and Kenyan government officials or their agents.
“We would welcome the opportunity to meet with you or your staff in person or over the internet to further elaborate on this petition.
Bruce Fein
International Counsel and Spokesman for Nnamdi Kanu.
