Home Politics American-Igbo veterans issues strong warning “If Nnamdi Kanu dies, Britain will be...

American-Igbo veterans issues strong warning “If Nnamdi Kanu dies, Britain will be held accountable as accomplice”

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Nnamdi Kanu
An organisation of retired and active Igbo-originated US military members known as the American Veterans of Igbo Descent(AVID), charged Thursday that Britain was complicit in the ongoing incarceration and trial of Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, or IPOB.

Speaking to reporters in Abuja on Thursday, Dr. Sylvester Onyia, the president of AVID, charged that the British government had not only abandoned Nnamdi Kanu, one of its citizens, but also encouraged and supported his arrest and trial.

In addition to pointing out that the Biafra agitator’s health is deteriorating following four years of incarceration since his arrest in Kenya and subsequent rendition to Nigeria in 2021, Onyia emphasised that Britain would be considered an accomplice if he died in prison.

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Onyia argued that Britain had a duty to provide medical intervention in Nnamdi Kanu’s case, using international laws, specifically Article 12 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, or ICESCR.

“Kanu’s health is failing. Britain must intervene medically. Failure makes it complicit in death. If Kanu dies, Britain will not be an observer. It will be an accomplice,” Onyia said.

Noting that the press briefing was convened to “speak truth to power”, Onyia said Britain has been hiding behind diplomacy while enabling injustice.

“This is an indictment not only of Nigeria’s persecution of Nnamdi Kanu but also of Britain’s deliberate complicity in violating the UN Convention Against Torture. Britain has abandoned its own citizen to torture and history will remember. Four years of torture. Four years of silence. For over four years Nnamdi Kanu has been detained after being abducted in Kenya on 27 June 2021. This was not an arrest. This was kidnapping, violating Kenya’s sovereignty. The African Charter was violated. The UN Convention Against Torture was violated. The UN Convention ruled that rendition is a violation of international laws and fundamental rights,” he added.

IPOB

Faulting the silence of the British government on the matter, Onyia observed, “Britain’s silence is not golden. It is crimson with complicity.”

The American-Igbo veteran president further accused the British authorities of conniving with the Nigerian government in the “persecution” of the IPOB leader.

“Britain didn’t just look away, it helped script the persecution of Nnamdi Kanu,” Onyia alleged. “In October 2021 British Council officials visited Kanu, days later Nigeria amended charges, dropping reference to London broadcast. Coincidence? I don’t think so.”

Nnamdi Kanu
IPOB leader , Nnamdi Kanu

“Britain supplied the lies that keep Kanu in chains,” Onyia further alleged, noting that after Kanu was discharged by the Court of Appeal, Britain declared that discharge is not acquittal.

“This is fallacy. Discharge is acquital,” he declared.

Onyia emphasised the ramifications of Kanu’s British citizenship, claiming that because he is Igbo, Nnamdi Kanu has been abandoned. He claims that in order to maintain Nigeria as a single nation, Britain is prepared to sacrifice Kanu.

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“Britain claims he (Nnamdi Kanu) is also Nigerian, that its hands are tied. International law disagrees. UK law states that assistance is mandatory irrespective of dual nationality. Dual nationality is not a death sentence unless Britain makes it one. Britain’s endorsement of the travesty created injustice and double jeopardy.

Nnamdi Kanu

“Britain would never accept this for a British citizen in Europe but for an Igbo man in Africa, in Nigeria, it is business as usual. Why? Because Nnamdi Kanu challenged the artificial state Britain created in 1914 and because he is an Igbo man. Britain is still trying to protect the Frankenstein it built in 1914 even if it means destroying its own citizen.”

Several years following the Biafra war, the American Veterans of Igbo Descent accused Britain of continuing to marginalise the Igbo people. In order to demonstrate that it had altered the “policy,” it pushed the British government to use Nnamdi Kanu’s case.

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The group made a list of demands that the British government take urgent action on.

It called on Britain to denounce the rendition in public, demand Nnamdi Kanu’s immediate release, start a parliamentary investigation into violations of the Vienna Convention, and stop providing diplomatic cover for the arrest and prosecution of the IPOB leader.

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