A collective of activist groups, including the Concerned Indigenous People of Biafra and the Peaceful Global Awareness Campaigners for Justice and Freedom, conducted a protest in Abuja on Wednesday, the 12th of November, 2025.
Their central demand was for urgent international intervention concerning the ongoing detention of the IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu.
The protesters, who carried placards denouncing the “unlawful detention and torture” of the IPOB leader, submitted a detailed letter, an ‘SOS Urgent Global Humanitarian Intervention to End the Unlawful Detention and Torture of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’, to a multitude of diplomatic missions and international institutions in Abuja. This letter, signed by coalition leader Mr Adindu Nkem, served as a global SOS appeal for immediate humanitarian and diplomatic action. Copies were distributed to key global players, including the United Nations, the United States Embassy, the British High Commission, the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, the European Union delegation, and the Embassies or High Commissions of numerous nations, such as France, Germany, China, Russia, Japan, South Korea, Israel, Turkey, Brazil, Ghana, Kenya, Ethiopia, Benin, and South Africa.
The activists asserted that the protest was driven by the unlawful abduction and continued detention of Kanu, alleging that he “was kidnapped in Kenya and extra-judicially transferred to Nigeria in June 2021 a clear violation of international law and the sovereignty of Kenya.”
The letter further noted that despite binding rulings by Nigerian courts, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, and various international human rights resolutions all ordering his unconditional release, the Nigerian government continues to hold Kanu in solitary confinement under inhumane conditions, which they stated “amounting to state-sponsored terrorism and torture.” The protestors warned that Kanu’s health “has deteriorated gravely in DSS custody,” and that his continued detention and the harassment of campaigners “constitute a direct threat to human life, justice, and global peace.”
The groups called upon world powers and international institutions to act immediately to enforce all binding local and international court orders for Kanu’s unconditional release.
They further urged the international community to investigate and sanction those responsible for his illegal abduction from Kenya and ongoing torture in Nigeria, and to ensure the protection of peaceful IPOB members against arbitrary arrests, harassment, and persecution.
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They pleaded with world leaders to “recognize the extraordinary humanitarian urgency of this case and initiate emergency diplomatic dialogue to prevent further escalation,” arguing that the “kidnapping of a lawful self-determination leader from another sovereign nation is not a domestic issue it is international terrorism,” and that “Failure to act emboldens future violations against activists and journalists worldwide. We humbly urge your offices to treat this matter as a life-saving emergency and a moral test of global justice.”
Moreover, the activists demanded the classification of Nigeria as a terrorist state, citing persistent human rights abuses, extrajudicial killings, torture, and the suppression of peaceful movements by government security agencies, especially the DSS and the military.
They argued that the unlawful abduction of Kanu from a foreign nation without due process is an act of international terrorism and a grave violation of international conventions. They demanded that the United Nations, African Union, European Union, the United States, and other world powers urgently launch a global inquiry into Nigeria’s acts of state terrorism and classify the country as a terrorist state until it ceases all unlawful violence against unarmed civilians. Similarly, they urged the ICC to expand its ongoing investigations into Nigeria to include crimes against humanity, enforced disappearances, and transnational terrorism, and to impose targeted sanctions on individuals and state institutions responsible for these violations, specifically naming the DSS leadership, the Attorney General’s office, and the Presidency.