Nnamdi Kanu Writes Trump: ‘Stop a Second Rwanda in Africa’ — Seeks U.S.-Led Probe into Christian Killings, Biafra Referendum

IPOB leader Nnamdi Kanu writes to Donald Trump, urging a U.S.-led investigation into alleged Christian killings in Nigeria and calling for a Biafra referendum. Warns of “a second Rwanda in Africa.”

Detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, has written to the U.S. President, Donald Trump, appealing for an internationally supervised referendum on Biafra and a U.S.-led investigation into alleged killings of Christians in Nigeria’s southeast region.

In a letter dated November 6, 2025, and delivered through the U.S. Embassy in Abuja, Kanu warned that Christians in Nigeria were facing what he described as “an existential threat.”

The IPOB leader accused the Nigerian military of orchestrating “coordinated attacks against Judeo-Christian communities in the southeast under the guise of counter-terrorism.”

Kanu, who identified himself as a “peaceful, non-violent civil rights advocate rooted in Judeo-Christian values,” recalled attending one of Trump’s 2020 campaign rallies in Des Moines, Iowa, noting his long-standing admiration for the former U.S. president.

He commended Trump’s recent remarks that the United States was “prepared to act” militarily and suspend aid to Nigeria if the persecution of Christians persisted. According to Kanu, Trump’s declaration “ignited hope in the hearts of millions who have been abandoned by the world.”

“You have seen the truth: Christians in Nigeria face an existential threat. This genocide is not confined to the North—it has metastasised into the Igbo heartland, where Judeo-Christians are being systematically exterminated under the guise of counter-terrorism,” Kanu wrote.

The IPOB leader said his prolonged detention was part of a campaign to silence “a Judeo-Christian voice” speaking out for his people.

He recounted how he was abducted in Kenya in 2021 and forcibly returned to Nigeria in what he described as an “extraordinary rendition,” despite a Kenyan High Court ruling that deemed the act illegal.

Kanu noted that the Court of Appeal in Abuja, on October 13, 2022, had discharged and acquitted him, declaring his rendition unconstitutional and ordering his release.

He also cited the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention’s 2022 opinion, which described his imprisonment as “arbitrary, unlawful, and politically motivated.”

Kanu accused the Nigerian military of conducting massacres in the southeast, listing incidents such as the 2016 Nkpor and Aba killings, the 2017 “Operation Python Dance” in his hometown of Afaraukwu, and the 2020 Obigbo incident.

According to him, reports by Amnesty International, the United Nations, and local human rights organisations have documented these killings targeting Christian communities sympathetic to the Biafra movement.

He recalled that hundreds of unarmed civilians were killed during peaceful rallies, including the January 2017 “Trump Solidarity Rally” in Port Harcourt, which he claimed soldiers attacked with live bullets.

“They came to celebrate your inauguration; they were met with bullets,” Kanu told Trump.

Kanu further accused the Nigerian government of branding IPOB a terrorist organisation despite “zero evidence of violence,” alleging that “state-backed militias have been used to carry out attacks later blamed on IPOB.”

He appealed to Trump to initiate an international inquiry into the killings, push for congressional hearings on the persecution of Christians in Nigeria, and impose targeted sanctions on those responsible for alleged human rights abuses.

He also urged the United States to support an internationally supervised referendum on self-determination for the Igbo people, describing it as “the only peaceful path to ending this cycle of violence.”

“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,” Kanu concluded.

It is no longer news that Kanu remains in solitary detention at the Department of State Services (DSS) facility in Abuja, more than four years after his abduction and despite multiple court orders for his release.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday, Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court gave Kanu one final opportunity to open his defence in his ongoing terrorism trial or risk losing the right to do so.

The judge issued the directive while ruling on an application by the prosecution counsel, Adegboyega Awomolo (SAN), who sought to foreclose Kanu’s defence after he repeatedly declined to present one despite the prosecution closing its case.

Justice Omotosho noted that while it was his duty to ensure the defendant is given ample time to present his case, “that privilege will not be extended indefinitely.”

“We had adjourned till today for the defendant to put in his defence or be deemed closed. But I am bound to give him another opportunity,” the judge said.

“If he does not, I will deem him closed. I know that he is an economist and not a lawyer, so I will give this last opportunity to the defendant to put in his defence, failing which he would be deemed closed,” he added.

The court thereafter adjourned the matter till November 7 for Kanu to either open his defence or forfeit the right to do so.

Awomolo had earlier reminded the court that Kanu had already spent five of the six days allocated for his defence without making any effort to begin.

Kanu, representing himself, maintained that there was no valid charge before the court, insisting that he could not defend himself against “a baseless and politically motivated prosecution.”