The family of detained Biafran agitator, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, has issued a damning statement accusing the British government of aiding and abetting Nigeria in the alleged unlawful rendition, detention, and trial of their son.
In a searing declaration released on Sunday, the family criticized the United Kingdom’s continued silence and inaction over what it described as a “gross violation” of international law and a betrayal of British citizenship.
Speaking through their spokesperson, Prince Emmanuel Kanu, the family condemned Britain’s refusal to challenge Kanu’s prosecution in Nigeria, despite his status as a British citizen and the peaceful, UK-registered nature of his pro-Biafra movement, IPOB.
“The United Kingdom has never stopped killing Biafrans. Only the methods have changed,” the family stated. “Britain armed Nigeria during the Biafran War. Today, it supplies silence and diplomatic cover for extraordinary rendition.”
The family’s outrage centers on the events of June 2021, when Kanu was reportedly abducted in Kenya, illegally rendered to Nigeria, and has since remained in the custody of Nigeria’s Department of State Services (DSS). They insist the British High Commissions in both Nairobi and Abuja played passive, if not complicit, roles in the operation.
“The British Government cannot claim ignorance. Their officials visited Kanu in custody, yet failed to act meaningfully. His simple question—’Why is the UK allowing my trial for acts committed in Britain?’—was met with evasions. Four days later, Nigeria amended the charges to remove any mention of London,” the family alleged.
They called for an immediate parliamentary inquiry into the actions of British diplomatic missions involved, and for the UK government to:
Publicly acknowledge its role in the illegal rendition,
Demand Kanu’s immediate repatriation to the UK or Kenya,
Cease all forms of legal or diplomatic support to the ongoing trial.
The family also accused Britain of historical and ongoing prejudice against the Igbo people, recalling the Biafran War’s human toll and connecting it to what they described as a modern-day campaign of geopolitical suppression.
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“Let it be known,” the statement warns, “if Mazi Nnamdi Kanu dies in Nigerian custody, Britain will bear responsibility. Not because it failed to act—but because it chose to act on the side of tyranny. Its silence is complicity.”
Calling for global attention and justice, the family’s declaration ends with a defiant vow to expose what they term the “British betrayal of its own citizen” and the enduring injustice against the Biafran people.
The UK government has yet to respond to these latest allegations.
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