By CHARLES IWUOHA

A pan-Igbo socio-cultural advocacy and humanitarian organization, Ndi-Igbo Worldwide Union (WIWU) has said the Nigerian Government turned Kenya into a human hunting ground with the arrest and rendition of leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu.

NIWU, in a statement signed by its chairman, Ben Nwankwo, and secretary, Chief Charlse Edemuzo, and made available to journalists on Wednesday, announced that the formation of the group was informed by the need to address pertinent issues concerning the Igbo people worldwide, amidst the silence and inactivity of those vested with the responsibility.

The group listed the conviction and sentencing of Nnamdi Kanu as an example of the injustice and marginalization suffered by the Igbo in the Nigerian state.

Condemning the development, NIWU demanded the IPOB leader’s immediate release, accusing the Nigerian government of violating the sovereignty of Kenya, in the manner Kanu was arrested in the country.

According to NIWU, Nigeria committed an extraterritorial border crime in Kanu’s arrest and rendition.

The statement said: “Mazi Nnamdi Okwu Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) conviction is yet another example of abuse and violation of fundamental human rights by the Nigeria state. Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s trial was without jurisdiction. His conviction was based on law unknown to man, hence the trending soundbite “Omotosho show me the law”.

“Ndi-Igbo Worldwide Union is using this opportunity to vehemently and equivocally condemn, in the strongest terms, the kidnapping, torture and extraordinarily renditioning of Mazi Nnamdi Okwu Kanu from Kenya to Nigeria. By this single crime, Nigeria has turned the sovereign state of Kenya, into a human hunting ground, with vague understanding of the gravity of the extraterritorial border crime. We condemn and reject Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s conviction in its entirety, based on nothing other than justice and the rule of law.”

The pan-Igbo group lamented what it described as selective justice in Nigeria, noting that court rulings which favoured Kanu were ignored by the Federal Government.

The group pointed to the Abia State Federal High Court ruling of January 19, 2022, which found the Nigerian state guilty of the invasion of Kanu’s home in 2017, and an Abia State Federal High Court ruling on extraordinary renditioning of Kanu from Kenya to Nigeria. It also cited an Enugu State High Court ruling which declared the proscription of IPOB as a terrorist organization unconstitutional, and the Supreme Court Ruling of December 2023.

The group drew the attention of the Nigerian Bar Association to Kanu’s plight, noting that the association shares in the responsibility of guaranteeing and protecting the right of every citizen under the law.

However, NIWU warned that justice will catch up with Igbo elites who have “seized this troubling time of our people to seek for political relevance”.

The land will not forget you. To our young men and women (our proud future generation), you have not disappointed us, rather your political elites and some elders in our midst have disappointed you. They have traded your future for their political gains. This will not continue – we assure. We encourage you to keep fighting for your rights under the law,” the group added.

NIWU, in the same vein, lamented the absence of federal presence in the South-East, noting that the government at the center has sidelined the region in major national development programs including railway lines, seaport, cargo airline services, national gas pipelines, among others.

The group, In the same vein, accused the Nigerian government of intentionally looking away while Christians, mainly Igbos and other moderate religious groups, are being terrorized by Muslim jihadists across the country.

It further lamented that ”Nigerian prisons are saturated with Igbo youths in their hundreds and thousands, based on unsubstantiated trumped-up charges as members of IPOB or ESN”.

According to the group, most of the Igbo youths are languishing in jail, without trial, and for crimes not known to the law.