Nnamdi Kanu’s Elder Brother Petitioned International Bodies Concerning IPOB Leader Torture

Prince Kanunta Kanu, the older brother of Indigenous People of Biafra (IOPB) leader Nnamdi Kanu, has petitioned some international bodies over what he described as his brother’s torture. Kanunta Kanu, according to Track News, petitioned the US State Department, UN Human Rights, EU Commission, UK Parliament, Rishi Sunak, and the Canadian Prime Minister, among others, about the country’s ill-treatment of detainees. According to him, refusing to provide food and medications to his brother, who is a detainee with the Department of State Service (DSS), is tantamount to torturing him. “It’s a shame in the 24th century, inmates are starved to death in Nigeria,” he said.

His reaction follows a statement by Kanu’s special counsel, Aloy Ejimakor, who claimed on Twitter that IPOB leaders claimed DSS officials refused to feed him regularly and make provision for his drugs in the last nine days due to a lack of funds. According to Track News, Ejimakor said in a tweet on Thursday that his client made the allegation during a routine visit to the IPOB leader in DSS custody in Abuja. Kanu’s lawyer emphasized that the IPOB leader did not eat on Thursday because the secret service operatives said there was no money to buy food for him.

The lawyer, who said he visited Kanu with Prince Emma Kanu and Barrister Nnaemeka Ejiofor, said Kanu told him to make his ordeal in DSS custody public. While criticizing the federal government for the development, Kanu’s elder brother stated that “the deprivation of feeding, medication, and sleeping in detention centers are weapons of torture.” He bemoaned the fact that, despite massive budgets, detainees in the country continue to go hungry.

“That’s Nigeria for real,” Kanunta said. Even detainees in prisons across the country buy their own mattresses to sleep on, yet a huge budget is allocated for the same.”

However, it was learned that Ejimakor and Kanu’s family have agreed to raise more than one million naira for Kanu’s feeding and medication while he is in the custody of the DSS in Abuja. Track News previously reported that the IPOB leader’s younger brother, Prince Emma Kanu, had revealed that plans were in the works to raise a million naira for Kanu’s welfare in light of the new development.