TheCable

Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), has told the United Nations that President Muhammadu Buhari’s government is arresting and detaining unarmed protesters in a clampdown on civil rights.

Kanu made the allegation in a petition, when he led a delegation to the UN headquarters in Geneva, on Thursday, according a statement from Emma Powerful, spokesman of the proscribed group.

The statement shared with TheCable said Kanu met with officials of various UN agencies to establish the group’s grievances against the Nigerian government.

It said the IPOB leader listed, “forceful Islamisation of the country as currently constituted, illegal detention of unarmed agitators, flagrant contempt of court orders, and  incessant abduction and extra judicial killings of IPOB family members,” as some of the ills of the Buhari administration.

Here are the five points in Kanu’s petition.

UN SHOULD SUPPORT IPOB’S QUEST FOR A BIAFRAN STATE

Kanu was said to have asked the UN to support IPOB’s quest for a sovereign state of Biafra.

“Mazi Nnamdi Kanu the greatest prophet and leader of our time presented Biafra plight to the United Nations officials, demanding urgent action against the numerous rights abuses inflicted daily upon Biafrans and the need to support the undeniable right of Biafrans to self-determination as enshrined in law, statute and various UN conventions” the statement read.

NO RUGA IN IGBO LAND

Kanu was said to have also informed the UN of the now suspended RUGA initiative, which the government introduced to address the incessant clashes between farmers and herders across the country.

“The case of RUGA settlement by stealth was also raised and the august body was left in doubt that Biafrans will never allow Fulani terror settlements in Biafraland,” Powerful said in the statement. 

IGBO WILL NO LONGER BE IGNORED

The IPOB spokesman said Kanu made a case for the plight of the Igbo, adding that: “Every issue concerning our people is now before the various arms and agencies of the United Nations. Our case will no longer be ignored”.

“From every indication there is palpable air of assurance that all the years of neglect of Biafra as a global issue requiring serious attention is now a thing of the past.”

PERSECUTION OF EL-ZAKZAKY, DETENTION OF SOWORE

The IPOB leader was said to have briefed the UN on the detention of Omoyele Sowore, publisher of Sahara Reporters, and Ibraheem El-Zakzaky, leader of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN), another proscribed group.

“He (Kanu) also raised the issue of the continued illegal detention of Omoyele Sowore and the relentless persecution of the members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria led by Sheikh El-Zakzaky,” the statement said.