Ibekimi Oriamaja Reports
In a letter to Catriona Laing, the British High Commissioner to Nigeria, American legal luminary Bruce Fein, special counsel to Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, the arrested leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, demanded that the Working Group on Arbitrary Commission report on Kanu be implemented.
Nigeria had been asked by the UN Working Group to guarantee Kanu’s “immediate and unconditional release.”
The document recommended paying Kanu adequate compensation for his kidnapping, rendition, torture, and continued detention. It also indicted both Nigeria and Kenya.
Check out this article as well: 52 Northern groups oppose the UN’s proposal for Nnamdi Kanu’s unconditional release
While the UN Working Group made its conclusion on April 8, its recommendations were made public on July 20 in an unedited advance copy that Tracknews in Abia was able to get.
The document states that Nigeria has six months to abide by the UN Opinion before the international organization must take further action.
Nigeria has not officially spoken on the topic since the paper was made public, despite rising pressure on the nation to abide.
Fein made the decision to write the UK envoy to Nigeria after being enraged by Nigeria’s noncompliance and Britain’s inactivity because Kanu is a British citizen.
Kanu’s other special counsel, Mr. Aloy Ejimakor, provided a copy of Fein’s letter to Vanguard in Abia. In it, he questioned why Britain had remained silent about the suffering of one of its citizens when there was a document she could use to secure his release.
The letter questioned why Britain, which in the past vehemently protected its citizens from foreign countries’ lawlessness, is complacent in Kanu’s case.
It stated, in part, that the United Kingdom had once aggressively protected its inhabitants from neighboring countries’ lawlessness.
It engaged in combat with Spain in the Jenkins Ear War in 1739 over the amputation of a British captain’s ear by Spanish coast guards in the West Indies.
“Nnamdi Kanu is a citizen of the UK. As confirmed and maintained by the U.N. Working Group, he has endured far worse treatment from Nigeria and Kenya than Captain Jenkins.
“However, as required by international law, you have taken no action to ensure Mr. Kanu’s prompt and unconditional release.
“In fact, while Rome burnt, you idled like Nero playing. You can’t say you’re ignorant. You have a copy of the concise Working Group Opinion in front of you.
“You are disgracing the United Kingdom and human rights advocacy. Consider the incredible contrast. After a US basketball player admitted to using drugs, the US is doing everything in its power to secure her release from Russia.
It has proposed to exchange the release of Britney Griner for the notoriously imprisoned arms dealer Viktor Bout.
“Unlike Mr. Griner, Nnamdi Kanu is innocent. He has never been found guilty of a crime. He is, in fact, a victim of numerous atrocities committed by Kenyan and Nigerian authorities.
But in flagrant violation of international law, you and your superiors continue to let Mr. Kanu suffer in a Nigerian prison.
In order to ensure that Nigeria complies with the Working Group Opinion asking for Nnamdi Kanu’s immediate, unconditional release and restitution, I respectfully ask that you swiftly inform me of the steps you have taken or are considering taking.
Nothing would make me happier than to see you gain a prestigious place in the history of international law and human rights.
