Detained IPOB Leader, Nnamdi Kanu, Writes President Trump, Calls for U.S.-Led Inquiry into Alleged “State-Sponsored Genocidal Killings” of Christians and Igbo People in Nigeria

The detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, has written a detailed petition to the President of the United States, Donald Trump, urging him to launch an independent U.S.-led investigation into what he described as “state-sponsored genocidal killings” of Christians and Igbo people in Nigeria’s South-East region.

According to Very Nigerian, the letter dated November 6, 2025, and transmitted through the U.S. Embassy in Abuja, was personally authored by Kanu, who remains in solitary confinement at the Department of State Services (DSS) headquarters. In the document, he appealed to President Trump to act on his recent declaration that the United States was “prepared to act militarily and cut aid if Nigeria fails to protect its Christian population.”

In the letter, which was also obtained by SaharaReporters, Kanu urged President 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.”

He began his message by extending greetings to Trump, stating:

“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.”

Kanu 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.”

Citing historical incidents, Kanu referred to several alleged massacres, including the 2016 Nkpor and Aba killings, the 2017 “Operation Python Dance” raid on his Afaraukwu home, and the 2020 Obigbo violence, describing them as evidence of “a hidden genocide” against Igbo Judeo-Christians.

Quoting multiple human rights reports, the IPOB leader referenced Amnesty International, the UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Executions, and Nigerian rights group Intersociety.

He stated:

“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 further alleged:

“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.’”

Kanu specifically accused the Nigerian Army, under the command of then Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Yusuf Buratai, of perpetrating the killings. He wrote:

“In 2021, President Buhari appointed him Ambassador to Benin, granting him diplomatic immunity to evade ICC prosecution, a clear case of state-sponsored impunity on a genocidal scale.”

The IPOB leader narrated his personal ordeal, recounting that he had survived four assassination attempts and was “forcibly abducted from Kenya in an extraordinary rendition operation” on June 20, 2021, an act later ruled illegal by a Kenyan High Court.

Kanu reminded Trump that the Nigerian Court of Appeal had discharged and acquitted him in October 2022, but lamented that “the government defied its own judiciary, refusing to release me as ordered.”

He continued:

“I was never released, so there was no re-arrest, only continued unlawful imprisonment in blatant violation of the constitutionally protected double jeopardy safeguards.”

Citing findings by the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, he emphasized that his imprisonment had been declared “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.”

Kanu urged President 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.” He also called for “emergency Congressional hearings on the Igbo Christian genocide” and the imposition of Magnitsky Act sanctions on key Nigerian officials, including former Army Chief Tukur Buratai and former DSS Director-General Yusuf Bichi.

He further appealed for U.S. support for “an internationally-supervised referendum on self-determination for the Igbo people,” which he described as “the only peaceful path to ending this circle of violence.”

Kanu’s emotional conclusion invoked historical parallels and faith-based appeals. He wrote:

“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.”

He signed the letter as:

“Mazi Nnamdi Okwu Kanu, Leader, Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Prisoner of Conscience, DSS Custody, Abuja.”

Kanu reaffirmed his commitment to peaceful advocacy, concluding:

“We seek only justice, truth, and freedom, even from a prison cell. May the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob grant you w isdom and courage to deliver His people once again.”