Get Involved – Nnamdi Kanu’s Wife Tells U.k. Government Over Kanu

Source: thewillnigeria.com

BEVERLY HILLS, March 06, (THEWILL) – Uchechi Okwu-Kanu, wife of jailed pro-Biafra activist, Nnamdi Kanu, has accused the British government of “evading responsibility” for ensuring her husband's human rights are not violated.

“It is for the British government to get involved, to make sure that this person's human rights are being respected and they haven't done that. They've been to see my husband but that is not where it ends,” she said in an interview with Newsweek.

Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), a global campaign group calling for independence for the region formerly known as the Republic of Biafra, currently southeast Nigeria is also a British citizen with dual nationality.

He was arrested in Lagos by the Nigerian State Security Service (DSS) in October 2015 on charges including criminal conspiracy and belonging to unlawful society. Since then, he has twice been granted bail by Nigerian courts but remains in detention.

The Nigerian government filed fresh charges against him in December 2015 of treasonable felony accusing Kanu of attempting to overthrow the Nigerian government.

Okwu-Kanu claims that her husband's human rights have been violated by the Nigerian government and security forces, who have kept him in detention despite the Federal High Court in Abuja ordering in December 2015 for the pro-Biafra activist to be granted unconditional bail.

“His human rights have been violated and international human rights bodies should be all over the place because he is also human,”

“From my perspective, they [the British government] are evading some responsibility. They should be doing more, they should visit him more… It's obvious and apparent that the Nigerian government and the DSS is not obeying the law.”

However, a spokesperson at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) told Newsweek that: “The U.K. takes all accusations of human rights abuses seriously. We have provided assistance to Kanu since his arrest in October 2015, including visiting him regularly in prison and attending court appearances.

“In each of our visits to Kanu he has told us he is in good health and that he has access to both a doctor and his lawyer.” The FCO spokesperson also says that the U.K. “fully supports the territorial integrity of Nigeria.”

Story by David Oputah