The detained leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, has formally written to U.S. President Donald Trump, urging him to launch an independent, U.S.-led investigation into what he called as the systemic “killings of Christians and Igbo people”in the South East region of Nigeria.
Kanu’s appeal made references to President Trump’s recent threat of U.S. military action and aid cuts if Nigeria fails to protect its Christian population.
Nnamdi Kanu is the figurehead of the IPOB movement, which advocates for the secession of a sovereign state of Biafra for the Igbo people. Kanu is currently in the custody of the Department of State Services (DSS), facing terrorism and treason charges, despite a 2022 Court of Appeal ruling discharging and acquitting him, a ruling the Nigerian government has challenged.
Nnamdi Kanu’s letter, dated November 6, 2025, and transmitted via his lawyer, Aloy Ejimakor to the U.S. Embassy in Abuja, seeks to internationalize his legal plight and the security crisis in the South East, which he frames as an existential threat to Judeo-Christians. The appeal made reference to historical incidents reported by international bodies, including Amnesty International and the UN Special Rapporteur, to support his call for external review and intervention.
Kanu stated that the crisis is severe and specifically affects his people.
You have seen the truth: Christians in Nigeria face an existential threat. I write to you now to reveal that this challenge affects the Igbo heartland, where Judeo-Christians continue to suffer hardship – Kanu
Kanu also personally challenged his detention despite his acquittal by the Court of Appeal, citing a UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention report that described his imprisonment as “arbitrary, unlawful, and politically motivated.”
The Nigerian government has consistently denied the existence of a systematic, religiously motivated genocide, arguing that violence affects all citizens.
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