A coalition of United States-based pro-Biafra activists have declared that the jailed chief of the Indigenous Other folks of Biafra, IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu, didn’t dedicate any crime by way of difficult a referendum at the Biafra query in Nigeria.
That is because the activists requested the Nigerian govt to be informed from the self-determination push in the UK which has resulted in calls for for referendum by way of the folk of Scotland, Wales and Northern Eire.
The activists spoke in a joint commentary issued by way of the American Veterans of Igbo Descent, AVID, Emerging Solar and Ambassadors for Self-Choice, signed by way of Dr Sylvester Onyia, Mazi Evans Nwankwo and Rev. Dede Maxwell.
Within the joint commentary titled ‘Nigeria will have to be told from the United Kingdom: Referendum is a democratic proper, now not against the law – our stand on Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’, the activists famous that no person has been arrested and charged with treason in the United Kingdom for championing a referendum.
“We have now watched with chilly fury the hot occasions in the UK, the very nation that imposed its parliamentary gadget on Nigeria after which deserted each and every idea it claimed to show us.
“On 14th September 2026 in Cardiff, the leaders of Scotland, Wales and Northern Eire signed a joint accord stating their inalienable proper to self-determination. On twenty second September 2026 the Scottish Parliament voted 84–18 that “Scotland is a country that has a proper to come to a decision its personal long term.” Even a tiny English village, Piddington in Oxfordshire, held a referendum to come to a decision its personal destiny.
“In each and every unmarried this type of instances the British Executive didn’t drag any individual to court docket for treason neither have been other folks shot lifeless. The High Minister, Andy Burnham, debated them. Nobody used to be kidnapped. Nobody used to be thrown right into a dungeon and left to rot. Nobody’s well being used to be intentionally allowed to cave in in custody. That’s what democracy seems like when the robust are pressured to admire it,” the activists mentioned.
Mentioning their place, the activists stressed out: “If the UK can permit open debate and parliamentary votes on self-determination in 2026, by way of what twisted good judgment does Nigeria criminalise the similar call for? We call for the instant inclusion of referendum as a constitutional proper. When a other folks stand by way of their very own applicants and vote in line with their collective will, this is already a type of referendum.”
In keeping with them, it’s the reputable expression of a other folks’s proper to be ruled by way of the ones they agree with and now not by way of those that occupy them
Additionally mentioning their place on Nnamdi Kanu, the activists condemned what they described because the planned overlook of the IPOB chief’s well being in detention. They mentioned the advance isn’t simply inhumane however a calculated act of cruelty.
“Let or not it’s mentioned for the arena to listen to with out apology: Mazi Nnamdi Kanu soliciting for a referendum isn’t against the law. In Scotland it is known as democracy. In Wales it is known as self-determination. In Northern Eire it’s safe by way of the Excellent Friday Settlement. In Nigeria it’s branded terrorism in order that a British citizen will also be silenced.”
The activists additionally faulted the British govt’s silence on Nnamdi Kanu’s case, particularly the prolong in listening to the attraction he filed to problem his conviction.
“Britain has deserted probably the most fundamental guideline of the average legislation it pressured upon Nigeria: justice behind schedule is justice denied. Why has Britain now not demanded an evidence from Nigeria for refusing to listen to the attraction in opposition to a conviction that rests on no transparent written legislation? Britain’s calculated silence and planned docility quantity to lively complicity within the ordinary rendition and unlawful conviction of its personal citizen,” the activists mentioned whilst accusing the British of betrayal.
They added that Kanu referred to as for a referendum as a result of he envisioned a Nigeria of justice, fairness and true federalism — or the liberty to stroll away if that Nigeria proved unattainable.
They demanded the instant clinical evacuation and remedy of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, complete admire for his basic human rights, “and the unconditional finish of his unjust detention for difficult exactly what Scotland, Wales and Northern Eire are freely difficult in the UK as of late”.