•As brother flays Britain for lack of support
• Nwifuru tells new GOC to end sit-at-home

Detained IPOB Leader, Nnamdi Kanu, has declared he will not subscribe to any trial conducted by any judge or court without jurisdiction or whose jurisdiction does not meet constitutional requirements.

He stressed his determination to stand on the declaration, saying: “Even if it will take the rest of my life in detention to produce me before a proper and impartial court, so be it.”

Kanu, who has been facing trial after his extradition from Kenya in 2021, announced this in an ‘Open Letter To The General Public’ dated February 14, 2025, which was sent to The Guardian by the Head of his Legal Team, Aloy Ejimakor.

The letter reads: “On 24th September 2024, I decided that I have had enough of taking my chances at getting justice from a judge that, in June 2021, sent me to secret police detention without fair hearing, later refused to transfer me to prison to better prepare for my trial, and capped it all by refusing to restore my bail and, instead, ordered an accelerated trial in the face of the reality that I will never get a fair trial whilst detained at the DSS.”

Kanu, who concluded the open letter by stating that it should in no way be construed to mean that there were no decent judges in Nigeria that could be trusted to deliver justice in his case, stressed that that was not the issue.

“The issue is that my case is deliberately being shielded from judges and justices that are deemed to be committed to doing justice even when it means that the Federal Government must lose.”

IN a related development, Kingsley Kanu, the brother of Nnamdi Kanu has accused the UK government of turning its back on the travails of his brother, who is a British citizen, and called on Keir Starmer to “wake up” and “defend British citizens”.

Kingsley accused the UK government of failing to intervene in his brother’s case.

“Up to this day, the previous government and today’s government have not been able to accept or to take the stand and call the Nigerian government to say stop,” Kingsley said in an interview from Germany.

“They should wake up to defend British citizens. I find it very astonishing,” he added.

Kingsley said the U.K. government had turned its back on his brother. He said the Nigerian Supreme Court’s ruling in December 2023 provided a clear route for the UK government to take action, but lamented that Starmer, the fourth prime minister during the period of his brother’s detention, had yet to take any action.

But a spokesperson for the Foreign Office had said: “We are providing consular support to Mr Kanu and remain in contact with his family and legal representatives. We have raised his case with the Nigerian authorities.”

MEANWHILE, Governor Francis Nwifuru of Ebonyi State, over the weekend, asked the new General Officer Commanding, 82 Division Nigeria Army Enugu, Major Gen Oluyemi Olatoye, to intensify efforts to end sit-at-home often declared by non-state actors in the South- East region.

Nwifuru handed the task when Olatoye paid him a courtesy call in his office, Government House Centenary City, Abakaliki.

He lamented the economic losses sit-at-home had cost the zone.

Speaking earlier, Olatoye commended Nwifuru for his support to the military and assured that he would collaborate with the state to maintain law and order.