Stephen Ukandu, Umuahia
The family of the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, has accused the British Government of abandoning him in detention in Nigeria.
The family expressed fury that Kanu, a British citizen, has been held by the Nigerian authorities since June 2021 following his abduction in Kenya and extraordinary rendition, yet Britain has done nothing to facilitate his freedom.
Accusing Britain of maintaining criminal silence over Kanu’s plight, the family said: “If Britain cannot protect its own citizen, then it should admit publicly that some British citizens are more equal than others.”
Kanu’s family, in a terse statement signed by its spokesperson, Prince Emmanuel Kanu, demanded quick British action or for Nigeria’s colonial master to take responsibility for Kanu’s ordeals.
The statement read in part: “In June 2021, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, a lawful British citizen and leader of a peaceful self-determination movement—IPOB, registered under UK law—was abducted in Nairobi, Kenya, subjected to extraordinary rendition without due process, and illegally transferred to Nigeria by operatives whose trail the British authorities have deliberately ignored.
“This transnational crime was carried out in clear violation of Kenyan and international law. Yet Britain said nothing. Worse still, their silence gave Nigeria the license to act with impunity.
“Why was the British High Commission in Nairobi inactive while a British citizen was drugged, tortured, and flown out in chains? Why was the UK Foreign Office complicit in turning a blind eye to this abduction that violated every known treaty obligation under international human rights and consular law?”
Kanu’s family further accused Britain of complicity in Kanu’s ordeals, alleging that claims of diplomatic talks with Nigeria were a hoax.
“It is now painfully clear: Britain was not merely a bystander. Britain was a co-conspirator.
“British consular officials visited Mazi Nnamdi Kanu in DSS custody in Abuja. He asked one simple question: ‘Why is the United Kingdom allowing a British citizen to be tried for broadcasts made in the UK, where both IPOB and Radio Biafra are lawful entities?’ Their response was both evasive and insidious: ‘We’ll get back to you.’ But they never did.
“Instead, within four days of that meeting, Nigeria’s then-Attorney General, Abubakar Malami, quietly amended the charges against Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, removing ‘London, United Kingdom’ as the alleged location of the offences. The only logical inference is that the British authorities either advised Nigeria to do this or consented to a cover-up to evade the UK’s own jurisdictional responsibilities.”
Kanu’s family further expressed anger that Britain allowed IPOB to be proscribed despite being fully registered in the country, describing it as hypocrisy.
“Despite IPOB’s legal status in the UK and the total absence of any UK court order outlawing its activities, the British Government has continually refused to challenge the unlawful prosecution of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu in Nigeria.
“When the question was asked of the British Foreign Office—‘Why won’t you demand that your own citizen be returned to either the UK or Kenya, where he was abducted?’—they offered the most cowardly response imaginable: ‘We cannot interfere in a Nigerian trial.’
“This is not just false. It is a betrayal. The UK Government has, in fact, interfered constantly—by suppressing evidence, shielding Nigerian impunity, and erasing its own culpability from the chain of events that led to Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s ongoing ordeal.”
Kanu’s family further accused Britain of hatred against the Igbo race, citing British support for Nigeria against the Biafran side during the civil war as confirmation.
“In 1968, they supplied the arms that killed Biafran children. In 2021, they supplied the silence that allowed their citizen to be kidnapped and tortured.
“What exactly did the Igbo people do to Britain to deserve this generational hatred?
“Is it our resilience, our enterprise, or our refusal to bow to colonial structures masquerading as post-colonial governments?
“Why is it that every time an Igbo leader rises to speak truth to power, Britain rushes to undermine him?
“It is time for the world to know: Britain’s hatred for the Igbo people has outlived colonialism. What they could not achieve with bombs and starvation in 1967, they now pursue through legal manipulation, judicial collusion, and geopolitical deceit.”
Kanu’s family urged Britain to change for the better, adding that their observation is in good faith.
“This statement is not made in anger. It is made in defiance. We defy the centuries of British deception in Africa.
We defy the silence that enables crimes against our people. And we defy the notion that a British citizen can be abducted, tortured, and tried abroad without the UK lifting a finger.”
Kanu’s family said Britain should be ready to take responsibility for whatever happens to Kanu in detention since it has failed to come to his rescue.
“If anything happens to our brother, the Kanu family will hold the United Kingdom responsible. Not because they failed to act—but because they chose to act on the side of evil. Their silence is not neutrality. It is an endorsement of tyranny.”
“Publicly accept responsibility for your complicity in the illegal rendition of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.”
The family challenged Britain to take action to prove it had no hand in Kanu’s ordeals.
“Immediately demand his return to either Kenya or the United Kingdom.
Cease all diplomatic and legal support that sustains this illegal trial in Nigeria.
Initiate a parliamentary inquiry into the roles played by the British High Commissions in Nairobi and Abuja in this scandal.”
