A United States–based Catholic priest, Rev. Fr. Augustine Odimmegwa, has demanded the immediate release of the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, and said his continued detention violates both Nigeria and international laws.
Odimmegwa who also doubles as Coordinator of Rising Sun, a nonprofit organisation based in America, in a statement yesterday, described Kanu’s prolonged incarceration as “shameful abuse of justice.”
“We, the people, are saying it loud and clear: Mazi Nnamdi Kanu should not be in detention for one more day. “He was abducted, not extradited. The law is clear – when a man is taken illegally from another country, no court in Nigeria has any right to try him,” he argued.
The IPOB leader has been in detention since June 2021 after he was forcibly returned to Nigeria from Kenya under controversial circumstances.
The Nigerian government accused him of treasonable felony, terrorism, and incitement, alleging that his broadcasts incited violence that led to attacks on security agencies in parts of the South-East.
