Aloy Ejimakor, special counsel to the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) leader, Nnamdi Kanu, has requested the Head of the European Union (EU) delegation to Nigeria and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Ambassador Samuela Isopi, to urgently request Federal Government of Nigeria to promptly implement the recommendation of United Nations (UN) Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, as well as the pertinent judgement of the Federal High Court, Umuahia, Abia State, regarding Kanu, who he said, is currently being detained in solitary confinement since June 2021 by Federal Government.
Ejimakor said yesterday, that he filed his appeal through a letter dated November 15, 2022, addressed to the ambassador’s Abuja office, titled:
‘Urgent appeal for diplomatic and humanitarian intervention of your mission in urging Government of Nigeria to implement the opinion of the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, and judgement of the Federal High Court of Nigeria regarding Kanu; and in the interim, to accord Kanu his human right to seek independent medical care for his ailments.”
Ejimakor, who made a copy of his letter available to journalists, told the ambassador that an advance copy of the opinion, which was issued on July 20, 2022, and released to him on July 23, 2022, stated that the cover letter bearing the opinion indicated that the working group forwarded the opinion to Federal Government on July 22, 2022.
Ejimakor also told the ambassador, in his letter, that while the pertinent judgement of the Federal High Court was delivered on October 26, 2022, by the Umuahia division of the court stated that he attached the opinion and judgment for the ambassador’s review, and marked them as Annexure 1 and Annexure 2, respectively.
Giving the ambassador some background information on the matter, Ejimakor informed him that Kanu is a Nigerian-British political activist, who, in 2012, founded and leads IPOB, which advocates self-determination for the people of Biafra (Eastern Nigeria), with the singular aim of achieving a sovereign State of Biafra from Nigeria through referendum.
He stated that IPOB is registered as a legal entity in the United Kingdom, and which maintains its headquarters in Germany, and has numerous offices and chapters around the world. He informed the ambassador that IPOB operates in the open as a non-violent group, including in Nigeria, before Federal Government unfairly proscribed it in 2017.
The Guardian
