Calls for U.S.-led inquiry into “state-sponsored killings” in Nigeria’s South-East
The detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, has written to former United States President Donald Trump, urging him to launch an independent investigation into what he described as “state-sponsored genocidal killings” of Christians and Igbo people in Nigeria’s South-East region.
In the letter dated November 6, 2025, and delivered through the U.S. Embassy in Abuja, Kanu — who remains in solitary detention at the Department of State Services (DSS) headquarters — appealed to Trump to act on his recent declaration that the U.S. was “prepared to act militarily and cut aid if Nigeria fails to protect its Christian population.”
According to a copy of the letter obtained by SaharaReporters, Kanu called on Trump to “launch a U.S.-led independent inquiry into state-sponsored massacres of Judeo-Christians in Eastern Nigeria, with full access to mass graves, military logs, and survivor testimonies.”
Kanu began by writing:
“I extend warm greetings to you in the name of the Judeo-Christian faith and values we both hold dear.
Your bold declaration on October 31, 2025, that the United States is ‘prepared to act’ militarily and cut aid if Nigeria fails to protect its Christian population ignited hope in the hearts of millions who have been abandoned by the world.”
The IPOB leader alleged that Christians in Nigeria are facing an existential threat, warning that the situation has “metastasized into the Igbo heartland.”
He continued:
“You have seen the truth: Christians in Nigeria face an existential threat. I write to you now to reveal that this genocide is not confined to the North; it has metastasized into the Igbo heartland, where Judeo-Christians are being systematically exterminated under the guise of counter-terrorism.”
Kanu cited several incidents as evidence of what he described as “a hidden genocide” against Judeo-Christians in the South-East, including the 2016 Nkpor and Aba massacres, the 2017 Operation Python Dance raid on his Afaraukwu home, and the 2020 Obigbo killings.
Quoting human rights reports from Amnesty International, the UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Executions, and Nigerian rights group Intersociety, Kanu noted:
“Amnesty International (2016) reported ‘at least 150 peaceful Christian worshippers killed, bodies dumped in rivers.’ UN Special Rapporteur Agnès Callamard confirmed that at least 60 were killed and over 70 injured in St. Edmund’s Catholic Church during prayers.”
He added:
“This was not a clash. It was a massacre of worshippers commemorating their fallen. In Aba, 22 were killed on-site, and 13 bodies were exhumed from a borrow pit. Children were executed for singing ‘Sweet Jesus.’”
According to Kanu, the attacks were perpetrated by Nigerian military forces under the command of the then Chief of Army Staff, Lt-Gen. Tukur Yusuf Buratai, who he accused of “state-sponsored impunity.”
“In 2021, President Buhari appointed him Ambassador to Benin, granting him diplomatic immunity to evade ICC prosecution,” Kanu said.
Recounting his personal ordeal, Kanu claimed to have survived four assassination attempts, adding that he was “forcibly abducted from Kenya in an extraordinary rendition operation” on June 20, 2021, an act that a Kenyan High Court later ruled illegal.
He also reminded Trump that the Nigerian Court of Appeal discharged and acquitted him in October 2022, but alleged that the Federal Government had refused to comply with the ruling.
“I was never released, so there was no re-arrest, only continued unlawful imprisonment in blatant violation of the constitutionally protected double jeopardy safeguards,” he said.
Citing findings by the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, Kanu maintained that his imprisonment was “arbitrary, unlawful, and politically motivated.”
He described his continued detention as “a state capture of the rule of law to silence a Judeo-Christian voice.”
In his appeal, Kanu urged Trump to take decisive action:
“Launch a U.S.-led independent inquiry into state-sponsored massacres of Judeo-Christians in Eastern Nigeria, with full access to mass graves, military logs, and survivor testimonies.”
He also called for:
“Emergency Congressional hearings on the Igbo Christian genocide and the imposition of Magnitsky Act sanctions on top Nigerian officials, including former Army Chief Buratai and former DSS Director-General, Yusuf Bichi.”
Furthermore, Kanu appealed for U.S. support for an internationally supervised referendum on self-determination for the Igbo people, describing it as “the only peaceful path to ending this circle of violence.”
“Mr. President, history will judge us by what we do when genocide knocks. You have the power to stop a second Rwanda in Africa. One tweet, one sanction, one inquiry could save millions,” Kanu declared.
He signed off as:
“Mazi Nnamdi Okwu Kanu, Leader, Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Prisoner of Conscience – DSS Custody, Abuja.”
Kanu concluded by reaffirming his commitment to non-violence and faith, writing:
“We seek only justice, truth, and freedom, even from a prison cell. May the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob grant you wisdom and courage to deliver His people once again.”
