Bruce Fein, the international lawyer and spokesperson for Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, has requested a meeting with the new British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Dr. Richard Montgomery. The meeting would be to discuss the continued illegal detention of Kanu and how to secure his unconditional release. The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, as well as numerous court rulings, have called for Kanu’s release.
In a letter addressed to Montgomery and dated March 27, Fein requested the meeting to explore avenues to secure Nigeria’s compliance with the Working Group’s order for the immediate and unconditional release of Kanu. Fein emphasized the urgency of the situation due to Kanu’s rapidly declining health and the impending change in the Nigerian government.
Fein congratulated Montgomery on his appointment but warned him not to be like his predecessor, Catriona Laing, who he accused of handling Kanu’s matter with levity despite the fact that Kanu is a British citizen. Despite numerous court orders and the opinion of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention that Kanu be released unconditionally, Laing failed to exert pressure on the Nigerian government to comply with the orders.
Fein challenged the British government to follow the example of the United States in seeking justice for oppressed persons who are not even US citizens. He compared the anemic defense of Kanu by Laing to the muscular efforts by US Secretary of State Tony Blinken and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan to secure the release of permanent resident Paul Rusesabagina from Rwandan imprisonment.
Fein also accused Britain of being responsible for the ethnic tension in Nigeria following the skewed political system she bequeathed to the country upon independence. He argued that it is not enough for Britain to return Nigeria’s stolen artifacts but do nothing about the right of her citizens to self-determination.
Fein reminded Britain that Nigeria has been challenged as a nation since independence from involuntary British colonial rule in 1960. He also pointed out that the United Kingdom stole the right to self-determination and government by the consent of the governed in herding Biafrans at gunpoint in 1914 under a single sovereign umbrella pursuant to a cynical divide-and-conquer colonial policy.
In conclusion, Fein emphasized that Nnamdi Kanu is a United Kingdom citizen and the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB). Its mission is to secure the right to self-determination for 70 million Biafrans through peaceful avenues of redress. He urged the British government to do more to restore the rule of law and justice to the country.
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