By Mazi Edozie,
For IPOB Writers
Following the invasion of Nnamdi Kanu’s residence and the attempt made on his life by the Nigerian Army, a team of IPOB international lawyers based in US and Nigeria has petitioned the
Office of the United Nations Commissioner for Human Rights, Palais des Nations CH-1211, Geneva 10, Switzerland, over the violation of Nnamdi Kanu’s rights to freedom of speech, association and religion.
The petition seeks the intervention of the UN human rights arm in the ongoing show of force, house arrest stage-managed by the Nigerian government through its military on the IPOB leader as well as the shooting of the visitors that come to pay him(IPOB leader) a visit.
Recall that the Nigerian government sent its army to the residence of Nnamdi Kanu both to disperse his visitors and to keep him under house arrest.
They started the exercise on the 10th of September 2017, when they shot many people, both passersby and some IPOB members who visited their leader, Nnamdi Kanu, at his home residence, Afara-Ukwu Ibeku, Umuahia.
The show of force, aggression and barbarism worsened on the 12th of September, 2017, when some groups of soldiers who have been deployed to carry out Operation Python Dance in the southeast, laid siege at different locations and attacked IPOB members who were journeying to see their leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, leaving many dead and others badly injured.
To stop such crime against Biafrans, the team of the US-based lawyers: Bruce E. Fein, W. Bruce DelValle, alongside their Nigerian-based Attorney, Aloy Ejimakor, approached the UN human rights on behalf of the IPOB leader, IPOB members and pro-Biafra agitators.
Their petition in part reads:
Fax: 202.347.0130
Bruce E. Fein, Esquire Email: [email protected]
W. Bruce DelValle, Esquire* [email protected]
September I l, 2017
Honorable Antonio Guterres
Zeid Ra-ad Al Hussein
Office of the United Nations Commissioner for Human Rights
Palais des Nations
CH-1211
Geneva 10, Switzerland
Re: Nnamdi Kanu-lmpending Genocide of Nigeria’s Igbo People
Dear Mr Commissioner:
On behalf of the 50 million Igbo people of Nigeria, organized under the umbrella of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), led by Nnamdi Kanu, the Nelson Mandela of Nigeria, this office together with Nigerian Barrister Aloy Ejimakor (IPOB general counsel) calls your attention to the Nigerian government’s authorized shootings and killings of Mr. Kanu’s guests at his home by elements of Nigerian Army late Sunday, September 10, 2017.
We are convinced the Nigerian government intended to assassinate Mr Kanu because of his Igbo ancestry, Judaic religion, and political views. It’s nefarious designs were thwarted by the unanticipated presence of numerous visitors to Mr Kanu at the time of his scheduled extrajudicial murder by the Nigerian Army under colour of Nigerian law.
According to 10 credible Nigerian newspaper reports, many of the visitors were seriously wounded in the Army attack. Fatalities have been reported. Due to the developing nature of this incident, definitive information is unavailable at this time. But enough is known to justify an international response to prevent convulsion in Nigeria that would threaten international peace and security.
Mr Nnamdi Kanu and IPOB have been peacefully protesting the systematic persecution of
Igbos – who overwhelming Christians and Jewish — by Muslim and Hausa-Fulani president Muhamadu Buhari and his murderous administration. (Twelve northern Nigeria States have adopted sharia as their legal code). They have been brutally attacked with lethal force by Nigerian Security to punish the exercise of their fundamental rights to freedom of speech, religion, and association. Credible sources, including Amnesty International, have confirmed that more than 100 unarmed Igbo/IPOB members have been murdered in separate incidents implicating the Nigeria Army.
We represent legal representatives of ten of murdered or tortured victims in a Torture Victim Protection Act lawsuit currently pending before the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.
But the lawsuit alone has not been sufficient to deter Nigeria’s Muslim Hausa-Fulani government from seeking to exterminate 50 million Igbos because of their religion and ethnicity. The Nigerian government has tacitly endorsed a Hausa-Fulani plan in Northern Nigeria to expel 11 million Igbos and plunder their property beginning October 1, 2017. The earmarks of an impending genocide and failed state in Nigeria are unmistakable.
Mazi
We thus strongly urge you to consider employing all diplomatic tools at your disposal to communicate your concerns over the attempted September 10 assassination of Mr Kanu and ongoing Nigerian State terrorism against the 50 million Igbos. Among other things, we urge you to communicate your concerns to the Nigerian Embassy in Washington, D.C., the Nigerian Mission to the United Nations, and the Office of the Presidency of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Abuja, Nigeria.
We thank you in advance for your consideration.
View the attached PDF file for the full petition.
