President Trump is taking renewed interest in Africa trading a focus on aid to support for increased trade designed to build up the economy of African countries. It’s time to put a unique focus on Nigeria and the people of Biafra.
Nigeria’s political landscape is witnessing significant political challenges and remains haunted by the ghost of the Aburi Accord. Currently Nigeria remains one entity with its central government in Abuja, instead of the decentralized regional government as agreed upon in the Aburi Accord in January 1967. This agreement gave regions the right to exercise a plebiscite allowing them to leave the current union and coexist as independent good neighbors.
The country of Nigeria was created as a colony by Great Britain in 1914, merging different indigenous African peoples, among them the Biafrans, who are ethnically predominantly Igbo and religiously are mostly Christian. In 1960, Biafra officially seceded from Nigeria, and, in 1967, Lt. Col Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, under pressure from his people, declared its own Biafran state because of the unprovoked gruesome killing of his people by forces from the Muslim northern region.
The Nigerian government refused to accept the secession and launched a war and food blockade on Biafra. That civil war resulted in the murder of more than three million Biafrans. Biafra, a state in what is today southeastern Nigeria, lost their war and their initial claim to become an independent state. At that time, the Nigerian government made a commitment to the Three Rs, reconciliation, reconstruction, and rehabilitation. Not a single one of those promises have been met. Biafrans continue to witness persecution and killings to this day.
Biafrans worldwide still peacefully advocate for an independent Biafra. The restoration of the nation of Biafra has been supported by the respected human rights organization, Amnesty International, exposing the Nigerian government and their rampant extra-judicial killing and brute force to suppress peaceful and unarmed Biafrans who are exercising their rights to self-determination. At times, many politicians from Europe and the U.S. have also added their voices of global outrage regarding the murderous Fulani militias.
In October 2015, Nigeria detained Nnamdi Kanu, the leader for Biafran independence and director of Radio Biafra. Eventually released, Kanu left Nigeria to rally supporters in pursuit of Biafran self-determination. While in Kenya in 2021, at the urging of Nigerian leaders, Nnamdi Kanu was extra-ordinarily renditioned by the Nigerian government. He remains in jail continuously to this day without any charges.
On June 24, 2025, the High Court of Kenya found that “the abduction, incommunicado detention, torture, and illegal transfer of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu from Kenya to Nigeria in June 2021 was unlawful, unconstitutional, and a gross violation of his fundamental human rights under Kenyan and international law.” They called for his release and punitive damages. Besides defeating the Kenya government in Kenya court for the extraordinary rendition, Kanu had previously had court victories in Nigeria only to have the Nigerian Supreme Court reverse those decisions.
After initial resistance, there is now hope for the pending release of Nnamdi Kanu. He has been assigned a new judge to review his case. This change brought President Tinubu to attempt to distance himself from Kanu’s detention: “Somebody asked me about Nnamdi Kanu, and I said his matter is not a condition for the Southeast to support the President. We are willing to negotiate his release, but no one should make it a condition because the President did not put him there.”
The fact remains that the Nigeria government has failed to establish a prima facie case against him. Certainly, Nnamdi Kanu’s case may very well become a global classic case study on freedom fighting, domestic terrorism, self-determination, freedom of speech and Judiciary independence. The eyes of the world are now focused on Justice Omotosho and Nigerian Legal system.
One question remains, is the Nigerian Judiciary fully independent from the executive arm of the government? It is time for Nigeria to allow Kanu to be released, to compensate him for the pain, torture and suffering he has endured, and to allow a true referendum for Biafran self-determination.
Under the Biden administration there was no diplomatic efforts to release Kanu or support Biafran independence. President Trump’s return to office and his efforts to make a difference in Africa, has given the people of Biafra hope. Recently, Sen. Josh Hawley and Rep. Riley Moore have introduced a congressional resolution last week denouncing the persecution of Christians around the world. In supporting the need for this resolution, Sen. Hawley noted: "Year after year, the number of Christians murdered by extremists in Nigeria has numbered in the thousands. Millions more have been displaced. We cannot allow this to continue. I urge my colleagues to join me in condemning the persecution of Christians around the world by supporting this resolution."
With President Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio taking on evil empires like Iran, could there be renewed hope for them to challenge other freedom-loving countries to take a stand against Muslim genocide and the call for self-determination for Biafra. It is unlikely that the UN, with heavy Muslim membership, will ever act unless the United States makes it a priority. In this year when we anticipate the 250th anniversary of our own independence and the treasure that is, may we join the voices supporting Biafra’s freedom. May it be so.
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