By PAMELA EBOH, Awka

The leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, has announced the submission of materials chronicling human rights abuses perpetrated against Biafrans in Nigeria to a United Nation’s (UN) Special Rapporteur, Agnes Callamard.

A statement by Kanu said that the goal is to ensure that human rights violations occurring across Nigeria is not only acknowledged but confronted.

He added that in so doing, perpetrators will not only be prosecuted, but religious minorities across Nigeria will have the protection of the international community.

He said: “The materials submitted today to the United Nations (UN) Rapporteur, Agnes Callamard were signed by me, as the leader of IPOB, as well as IPOB U.S. National Coordinator Dr. Clement Okoro, and 22 state coordinators from across the U.S.

“The submission to the UN documents 12 incidents in which Biafrans were subject to severe human rights abuses, ranging from indiscriminate arrests to mass executions, carried out by Nigerian military, police and security forces.

“Most notable amongst these atrocities is the killing by Nigerian military forces 150 Biafrans in May '16. These innocent civilians were celebrating Biafran Remembrance Day & commemorating the approximately 2 million Biafrans that lost their lives during the Nigerian Civil War.

“The number of human rights abuses being committed against minorities and those with dissenting views in Nigeria, including members of the IPOB, over the past five years have increased dramatically both in scale and heinousness,” Kanu said.

He added that the materials also drew the attention of Callamard and UN to the massacre of Christians by Fulani extremists, a group that the 2019 Global Terrorism Index estimates is deadlier than Boko Haram.