Ipob claims Nigerian Army looted Nnamdi Kanu's home during raid and may have killed him

SECESSIONIST group the Indigenous People of Biafra (Ipob) has written to the United Nations asking it to probe the Nigerian Army for looting the home of its leader Nnamdi Kanu during its Operation Python Dance.

Earlier this year, the Nigerian Army launched Operation Python Dance, which Ipob claimed was an attempt to intimidate it and attack its members. Military operations were carried out around Mr Kanu's home in Umuahia in Abia State, forcing him to flee and go into hiding and Ipob have claimed that soldiers subsequently looted his home.

Mr Kanu's father Eze Isreal Okwu-Kanu, is the traditional ruler of Afaraukwu Ibeku, Umuahia, in Abia State and since the military operation, both of them have fled the palace, claiming soldiers were after their lives.  As a result, Mr Kanu's family has petitioned the United Nations, the European Union and other foreign countries, accusing the Nigerian Army of looting valuables from their home during a raid on October 8.

Ifeanyi Ejiofor, Mr Kanu’s personal lawyer, signed the petition on behalf of Mr Kanu’s father, Eze Isreal Okwu-Kanu. In the letter, it was alleged that CCTV footage attached, showed looting by a combined team of soldiers and policemen.

“We are solicitors to the family of His Royal Majesty, Eze Isreal Okwu-Kanu, hereinafter referred to as our client and on whose standing instruction we file this communication with the British government. It is our brief, that on the 8th day of October, 2017, our client’s son’s home (Nnamdi Kanu) in Afaraukwu Ibeku, Umuahia, in Abia State was invaded and violently looted by rampaging Nigerian soldiers and their police counterparts.

“The CCTV footage which picked the horrendous raids, revealed the brazen looting and carting away of valuables and household equipment by the above named security agents. The raid and consequent looting in the home of our client’s son, (a British citizen) by the soldiers and their police counterparts does not enjoy the protection, backing, and legitimacy of any known legislative enactment in Nigeria.” the petition added.

A copy of the letter sent to the British high commission in Nigeria stated that since an invasion on September 14, neither a family member nor any lawyer in their legal team has been able to establish any form of contact with Nnamdi Kanu. In addition, the letter added that the Ipob leader might have been killed during the military operation.

It added that the raid on October 8 lacked any legal backing as there were many pending suits challenging the earlier invasion by soldiers and another challenging the court order proscribing Ipob. Furthermore, the family urged the foreign governments to treat the proscription of Ipob with circumspect, adding that the legality or otherwise of it was already being challenged in court.

“It is, therefore, not unlikely, that he may have been killed in the well-coordinated bloody onslaught in his home. The attached CCTV footage picked clearly the horrendous activity of these rampaging security personnel in the home of our client,” the letter added.