Activists Rally, Urge World Leaders to Intervene in Kanu’s Case

A coalition of rights activists under the banners of the Concerned Indigenous People of Biafra and the Peaceful Global Awareness Campaigners for Justice and Freedom held a peaceful demonstration in Abuja on Wednesday, demanding international intervention in the detention of Nnamdi Kanu.

The demonstrators, carrying placards denouncing what they described as the “unlawful detention and torture” of the IPOB leader, submitted an open letter to various diplomatic missions and global institutions in Abuja.

Addressed to the United Nations, the United States Embassy, the British High Commission, the International Criminal Court, and other foreign embassies including those of Canada, France, Germany, China, Russia, and South Africa, the letter sought “urgent global humanitarian intervention.”

Dated November 12, 2025, and signed by coalition leader Mr. Adindu Nkem, the petition titled “SOS – Urgent Global Humanitarian Intervention to End the Unlawful Detention and Torture of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu” called for immediate diplomatic action.

According to the activists, their appeal was part of a wider effort to draw global attention to what they described as the illegal abduction and continued confinement of Kanu, who they allege was “kidnapped in Kenya and unlawfully transferred to Nigeria in June 2021,” in violation of international law.

The group further stated that despite multiple rulings by Nigerian courts and international human rights bodies—including the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention—ordering Kanu’s release, he remains held under harsh conditions by the Department of State Services (DSS).

The activists warned that Kanu’s health had deteriorated while in custody, calling his detention a “threat to justice, human life, and peace.” They urged world powers to enforce existing court orders for his unconditional release and to hold those involved in his alleged abduction accountable.

The letter also urged the international community to investigate what it described as ongoing violations by Nigerian authorities, including unlawful arrests, harassment, and persecution of peaceful IPOB supporters.

Calling the situation “a moral test for global justice,” the group appealed to world leaders to treat the matter as an urgent humanitarian crisis.

They further alleged that Nigeria’s actions—particularly the abduction of Kanu from another sovereign country—amount to “acts of international terrorism.”

The protesters also demanded that Nigeria be classified as a terrorist state over alleged ongoing human rights violations, including extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, and suppression of self-determination movements.

They called on the United Nations, African Union, European Union, and other global institutions to open a full-scale inquiry into what they described as “state-sponsored violence and terrorism against civilians,” and for the International Criminal Court to expand its probe into crimes against humanity, disappearances, and transnational terrorism in Nigeria.