According to Fein, the peaceful calling for a referendum permitting Biafrans to vote on whether to establish an independent nation of Biafra with boundaries to be negotiated by his Nnamdi Kanu is protected under Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The United States' Counsel of Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Bruce Fein, has called for the expulsion of Nigeria for serial violations of the United Nations Charter in the illegal prosecution of his client.
This was contained in a letter Fein wrote to the United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, President, UN Security Council, Nicolas de Riviere, and President United Nations General Assembly, His Excellency Dennis Francis.
In the letter dated March 13, 2024, titled: "Re: Expulsion of Nigeria for Serial Violations of United Nations Charter," Bruce Fein enumerated Nigeria's serial violation of the UN Charter to which Nigeria is a signatory, including the hanging of an environmental advocate on behalf of the Ogoni people, Ken Saro-Wiwa, and its ongoing alleged genocide of Biafrans featuring industrial-scale atrocities.
According to Fein, the peaceful calling for a referendum permitting Biafrans to vote on whether to establish an independent nation of Biafra with boundaries to be negotiated by his Nnamdi Kanu is protected under Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
He cited Article 6 of the United Nations Charter which provides for the expulsion of a Member for “persistently” violating Charter principles, noting that Nigeria has easily met the standard for expulsion with its illegal prosecution of Nnamdi Kanu among others.
While noting that the Nigerian government was not interested in the prosecution of Nnamdi Kanu, he explained that its ultimate aim was to kill Kanu in solitary confinement at a security cell like Russia’s Alexi Navalny.
The letter which SaharaReporters obtained on Thursday, partly read: "On July 20, 2022, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention issued an Opinion finding that Nigeria violated sixteen (16) international human rights covenants in the kidnap, torture, and extraordinary rendition of Nnamdi Kanu from Nairobi, Kenya, to Abuja, Nigeria in conspiracy with the Government of Kenya on or about June 2021.
"The Opinion ordered Mr. Kanu’s immediate and unconditional release and reparations, but Nigeria has ignored its United Nations international law obligation to comply. Since Mr. Kanu’s illegal detention nearly three years ago, Mr. Kanu has been held in solitary confinement without access to necessary and urgent medical care and legal counsel by Nigeria’s security services.
"There is no trial date, and the charges against Mr. Kanu keep changing like a weathervane. The Government of Nigeria is hoping that Mr. Kanu will die in prison like Russia’s Alexi Navalny.
"Nigerian courts have already held that Nigeria attempted the assassination of Nnamdi Kanu at his home in September 2017 in a military attack killing several others. He was denied bail on the outlandish, Kafkaesque theory that in fleeing to save his life, Mr. Kanu violated the terms of his initial release in 2015."
It added: "On December 15, 2023, the Nigerian Supreme Court acknowledged the criminality of Mr. Kanu’s extraordinary rendition of Mr. Kanu from Nairobi to Abuja. Federal Republic of Nigeria and Nnamdi Kanu, SC/CR/1361/2022. The Court concluded, nevertheless, that Nigeria could profit from its crime by prosecuting Mr. Kanu who came within Nigeria’s jurisdiction by flagrantly illegal means as found by the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, for example, violations of Article 9 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to which Nigeria is a signatory.
"The Nigerian Supreme Court decision makes Nigeria an outlaw nation. It is now free to kidnap citizens in other countries for extraordinary rendition to Nigeria for prosecution with impunity under Nigerian “law.” The decision flouts the Preamble of the United Nations Charter expressing a determination “to establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained.”
"Article 6 of the United Nations Charter provides for the expulsion of a Member for “persistently” violating Charter principles. Nigeria easily meets the standard for expulsion, including its illegal prosecution of Nnamdi Kanu, the hanging of environmental advocates on behalf of the Ogoni people, Ken Saro-Wiwa, and its ongoing genocide of Biafrans featuring industrial-scale atrocities.
"We urge the United Nations General Assembly, Security Council, or Secretary-General to appoint a commission of impartial human rights experts to advise whether Nigeria should be expelled under Article 6. The human rights credibility of the United Nations is in the balance," it reads.