By Izunna Okafor, Awka
The international lawyer and spokesperson to the Leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPoB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, Bruce Fein has warned the leadership of Ọhaneze Ndigbo to stop keeping mute but to speak out publicly against what he described as ‘travesty of justice that daily inflicts great misery on the Biafran people’.
The United States-based legal practitioner made the call in an emotional letter dated May 31, 2022 and addressed to the President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief George Obiozor, in which he also warned him that he ‘cannot escape the judgment of history’.
Fein, in the letter highlighted the various forms of infringement and punishments Kanu has been subjected to, both before and after his arrest in June last year, as well as the sacrifices he has made and the risks he has taken, all to
deliver the Biafran people.
While reminding Chief Obiozor that all that evil triumphs only when good men and women to do nothing about it; the US-based lawyer charged him and other stakeholders in Igbo land to face up their legal and moral responsibilities as professed Biafran leaders; and not to ‘show their heels’ when danger appears.
The letter reads: “I am writing as Nnamdi Kanu’s international lawyer and spokesperson. Face up to your legal and moral responsibilities as professed Biafran leaders. Do not
show your heels when danger appears. “To whom much is given, much will be required.” Luke 12:48. All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men and women to do nothing.
“Nnamdi Kanu is one of you—born on the same soil, raised on the same food, buoyed by the same music and dances, and nurtured by the same culture, inspired by the same flag. He has risked that last full measure of devotion (including dodging bullets of would-be assassins) to deliver the Biafran people from the cruel oppressions and genocide of the Fulani-controlled Government of Nigeria–like Moses and Pharoah in the Old Testament.
“Last June, Nnamdi Kanu was kidnapped, tortured for several days, and extraordinarily renditioned from Nairobi to Abuja in a criminal conspiracy between Nigeria and Kenya. The conspiracy was part of an ongoing Nigerian genocide of Biafrans prohibited by the Genocide Convention. The aim is to exterminate them through killings, rape, plunder, starvation, theft of real and personal property, and a collective denial of livelihood.
“For nearly a year, Nnamdi Kanu has been punished by indefinite detention in solitary confinement and denied access to needed nutrition, medical care, and counsel of choice in violation of international human rights law and the Nigerian Constitution. (The Fulani government notoriously honors the Constitution in the breach rather than in the observance). Nnamdi Kanu has also been denied his rights to a public, prompt, and fair trial before an impartial judge.
“It has become obvious beyond a reasonable doubt that the Fulani zealots have no incriminating evidence against him. They aim to imprison Nnamdi Kanu indefinitely without a trial praying for either for his death or handing his fraudulent prosecution to the next administration and wash their hand like Pontius Pilate.
“The Fulani have amended the charges against Nnamdi Kanu three times. They remain infinitely vague. They trespass on the universally recognized international law right of every people to self-determination exalted in Article 1 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and Article 3 of United Nations General Assembly Resolution 61/295, Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (2007). Notwithstanding armies of lawyers and investigators, the Fulani remain unprepared for trial after the elapse of more than 11 months since Nnamdi Kanu’s detention in Abuja. There still is no trial date.
“The prosecution climbed to a new level of farce on May 25, 2022. A bail hearing had been set by Justice Binta Nyako for May 26. Bail has been denied on the preposterous theory that Nnamdi Kanu previously jumped bail in September 2017 when he barely escaped an assassination attempt by exercising his unalienable right to self-preservation when Nigerian
security forces riddled his residence with bullets murdering many others. An Abia High Court
has awarded Nnamdi Kanu 5 billion naira for that flagrant and notorious violation of fundamental rights.
“The day before the bail hearing, Justice Nyako announced through the court Registrar that she had become “indisposed” and had adjourned the case another month to June 28, 2022. Couldn’t the Justice concoct a better excuse, like affliction with Covid? Indisposed means a mild illness that passes in days. A more likely explanation is that Attorney General Abubakar Malami, acting on the instructions of President Muhammadu Buhari, ordered Nyako to again postpone the proceedings because the prosecution has no case.
“Depend upon it. Without public denunciation of Nnamdi Kanu’s continued political persecution thundering like a hammer on an anvil demanding his release and a dismissal of the manufactured charges with prejudice, the June 28 bail hearing will also be postponed ad infinitum. Nnamdi Kanu’s cruel punishment without trial will persist in notorious violation of the Nigerian Constitution and international law.
“You collectively, have a legal and moral duty to speak out publicly against this travesty of justice that daily inflicts great misery on the Biafran people. Do not become traitors to the noble cause. Risk a tiny fraction of what Nnamdi Kanu has risked to regain Biafran sovereignty. It was stolen by the British over a century ago and the Fulani have refused to restore it by resorting to genocide.
“Silence is not acceptable. Neutrality between the firefighter and the fire is not an option. You cannot escape the judgment of history. Show you are made of sterner stuff than quislings.”
