Kanu’s UK attorney, Bruce Fein, writes Tinubu, renews call for release of IPOB leader

UK-based counsel to incarcerated leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, Bruce Fein, has written an open letter to President Bola Tinubu, reinstating his call for the immediate release of Kanu from detention.

In the open letter which was addressed to the President on Sunday, Fein said Tinubu needs to intervene in the detention of Kanu and ensure the immediate compliance with the order of the United Nations Human Rights Council Working Group on the Arbitrary Detention for Kanu’s unconditional release.

Fein called on Tinubu not to follow the footsteps of his predecessor, Muhammadu Buhari who was opposed to the call for Kanu’s release, and hoped that the new government would be more agreeable to a peaceful settlement.

The American lawyer also accused Buhari and his administration of exemplifying “lawlessness, including the illegal attempted assassination, kidnapping and torture of Nnamdi Kanu” before his recapture by the Nigerian State.

“On multiple occasions, the Nigerian government denied me the right to meet with my client or to be present in the courtroom to observe Nnamdi Kanu’s proceedings and to consult but not to act as a licensed Nigerian practitioner,” parts of the letter reads.

Read also: Kanu’s US lawyer, Bruce Fein, challenges AGF Malami to public debate

“You confront a choice between becoming a firefight or being the fire. The former would crown you with a possible Nobel Prize. The latter could consign you to Dante’s Seve Circles of Hell as portrayed in his Divine Comedy.

“You would become a firefighter by immediately ending the criminal, illegal detention of Nnamdi Kanu as ordered by the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and Nigeria’s Court of Appeal over a year ago,” he wrote.

“Nnamdi Kanu is every bit or more the leader of Biafrans as Nelson Mandela was for South Africa’s blacks.

“He is fighting for a referendum to save his people from extinction at the hands of herdsmen terrorists and the Nigerian Armed Forces.

“Kanu and his group have the right to peacefully agitate for self-determination under international conventions.

“I am urging you to chart a new course towards a peaceful resolution of the contention between Kanu and the Nigerian State.

“History waits on you to do the right thing and earn your place of pride on its sacred pages,” Fein stated.

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