In a letter dated November 6, 2025, and delivered through the U.S. Embassy in Abuja, detained IPOB leader Mazi Nnamdi Kanu appealed to former U.S. President Donald Trump to investigate what he described as “state-sponsored genocidal killings” targeting Christians and Igbo people in Nigeria’s South-East region.
Kanu, who remains in solitary confinement at the Department of State Services (DSS) headquarters, urged Trump to act on his recent remarks that the United States was “prepared to act militarily and cut aid if Nigeria fails to protect its Christian population
In a letter dated November 6, 2025, and delivered through the U.S. Embassy in Abuja, detained IPOB leader Mazi Nnamdi Kanu appealed to former U.S. President Donald Trump to act on his recent statement that the United States was “prepared to act militarily and cut aid if Nigeria fails to protect its Christian population.”
The letter, obtained by SaharaReporters, urged 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, who remains in solitary confinement at the Department of State Services (DSS) headquarters, praised Trump’s October 31 declaration, describing it as a message of hope to “millions who have been abandoned by the world.” He wrote that Christians in Nigeria “face an existential threat,” alleging that “the genocide has spread into the Igbo heartland, where Judeo-Christians are being systematically exterminated under the guise of counter-terrorism.”
The IPOB leader cited several incidents he described as evidence of a “hidden genocide” 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. He referenced reports from Amnesty International, the UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Executions, and Nigerian rights group Intersociety to support his claims.
Quoting Amnesty International’s 2016 report, Kanu stated that “at least 150 peaceful Christian worshippers were killed, and their bodies dumped in rivers,” while UN Special Rapporteur Agnès Callamard documented “at least 60 killed and over 70 injured during prayers at St. Edmund’s Catholic Church.” He described the attacks as massacres rather than clashes, alleging that “children were executed for singing ‘Sweet Jesus.’”
Kanu accused the Nigerian military, under the command of then-Chief of Army Staff Lt-Gen. Tukur Yusuf Buratai, of carrying out the attacks. He condemned former President Muhammadu Buhari’s 2021 appointment of Buratai as Ambassador to Benin Republic, calling it “state-sponsored impunity on a genocidal scale.”
The letter also detailed Kanu’s personal experiences, including four alleged assassination attempts and his “forcible abduction from Kenya in an extraordinary rendition operation” on June 20, 2021—an act he noted was later ruled illegal by a Kenyan High Court.
Kanu reminded Trump that although Nigeria’s Court of Appeal discharged and acquitted him in October 2022, he remains in detention in violation of court orders. He argued that his continued imprisonment amounts to “a state capture of the rule of law to silence a Judeo-Christian voice,” citing a UN Working Group decision declaring his detention “arbitrary, unlawful, and politically motivated.”
In his appeal, Kanu urged Trump to push for “emergency Congressional hearings on the Igbo Christian genocide” and to impose Magnitsky Act sanctions on top Nigerian officials, including Buratai and former DSS Director-General Yusuf Bichi.
He also called 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,” Kanu wrote. “You have the power to stop a second Rwanda in Africa. One tweet, one sanction, one inquiry could save millions.”
He signed the letter as “Mazi Nnamdi Okwu Kanu, Leader, Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Prisoner of Conscience – DSS Custody, Abuja,” reaffirming his commitment to non-violence, faith, and justice: “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.”In a letter dated November 6, 2025, and delivered through the U.S. Embassy in Abuja, detained IPOB leader Mazi Nnamdi Kanu appealed to former U.S. President Donald Trump to act on his recent statement that the United States was “prepared to act militarily and cut aid if Nigeria fails to protect its Christian population.”
The letter, obtained by SaharaReporters, urged 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, who remains in solitary confinement at the Department of State Services (DSS) headquarters, praised Trump’s October 31 declaration, describing it as a message of hope to “millions who have been abandoned by the world.” He wrote that Christians in Nigeria “face an existential threat,” alleging that “the genocide has spread into the Igbo heartland, where Judeo-Christians are being systematically exterminated under the guise of counter-terrorism.”
The IPOB leader cited several incidents he described as evidence of a “hidden genocide” 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. He referenced reports from Amnesty International, the UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Executions, and Nigerian rights group Intersociety to support his claims.
Quoting Amnesty International’s 2016 report, Kanu stated that “at least 150 peaceful Christian worshippers were killed, and their bodies dumped in rivers,” while UN Special Rapporteur Agnès Callamard documented “at least 60 killed and over 70 injured during prayers at St. Edmund’s Catholic Church.” He described the attacks as massacres rather than clashes, alleging that “children were executed for singing ‘Sweet Jesus.’”
Kanu accused the Nigerian military, under the command of then-Chief of Army Staff Lt-Gen. Tukur Yusuf Buratai, of carrying out the attacks. He condemned former President Muhammadu Buhari’s 2021 appointment of Buratai as Ambassador to Benin Republic, calling it “state-sponsored impunity on a genocidal scale.”
The letter also detailed Kanu’s personal experiences, including four alleged assassination attempts and his “forcible abduction from Kenya in an extraordinary rendition operation” on June 20, 2021—an act he noted was later ruled illegal by a Kenyan High Court.
Kanu reminded Trump that although Nigeria’s Court of Appeal discharged and acquitted him in October 2022, he remains in detention in violation of court orders. He argued that his continued imprisonment amounts to “a state capture of the rule of law to silence a Judeo-Christian voice,” citing a UN Working Group decision declaring his detention “arbitrary, unlawful, and politically motivated.”
In his appeal, Kanu urged Trump to push for “emergency Congressional hearings on the Igbo Christian genocide” and to impose Magnitsky Act sanctions on top Nigerian officials, including Buratai and former DSS Director-General Yusuf Bichi.
He also called 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,” Kanu wrote. “You have the power to stop a second Rwanda in Africa. One tweet, one sanction, one inquiry could save millions.”
He signed the letter as “Mazi Nnamdi Okwu Kanu, Leader, Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Prisoner of Conscience – DSS Custody, Abuja,” reaffirming his commitment to non-violence, faith, and justice: “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.”
