The American Veterans of Igbo Descent, AVID, an association of retired and serving United States military personnel of Igbo origin, has accused the United Kingdom of enabling the ‘persecution’ of its citizen, Nnamdi Kanu, by the Nigerian government. The leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Kanu, holds a British passport.
In a strongly worded statement released Monday, the 17th of November, 2025, and signed by its President, Dr. Sylvester Onyia, AVID argues that the charges against Kanu are fundamentally flawed. The association insisted that Kanu cannot be tried and convicted with a non-existent law.
The core of the legal challenge rests on legislative changes. Kanu and his defence team have been arguing that the Terrorism Prevention Amendment Act 2013, under which he was charged, had been repealed by the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition Act) 2022.
In the statement, which was dramatically titled ‘A dead charge cannot kill a living man’, AVID accused the UK of keeping silent in the face of glaring injustice meted on Kanu by the Nigerian authorities. The group stressed that the United Kingdom cannot pretend not to know about the unlawful nature of the trial, asserting that the UK government’s silence on the matter amounted to active complicity.
The association made its position crystal clear, stating: “The United Kingdom cannot pretend not to know. And its silence has crossed the line into active complicity. The United Kingdom, the country whose citizen is being subjected to this legal monstrosity, is fully aware of what is happening in Nigeria. Yet it has chosen silence, indifference, and diplomatic paralysis.”
AVID argued that this inaction constitutes an endorsement: “This silence is not neutral. It is not passive. It is not merely irresponsible. It has now become complicity.”
A significant portion of AVID’s argument connects the current legal dispute to the historical bedrock of British law. AVID invoked centuries-old legal doctrines, noting that it was the UK “that originated the very rule now being violated daily against its own citizen.”
Citing authorities like Lord Camden, William Blackstone, and A.V. Dicey, AVID highlighted the principle of Nullum crimen sine lege (no crime without law), demanding a “clear and certain breach of the law.” The association stated: “This is the exact principle Nigeria is violating. And the UK the global architect of the principle… is now looking away while its own citizen is prosecuted on a non-existent count struck out by the Supreme Court of Nigeria, and six counts under a repealed law that has not existed since 12 May 2022.”
The group concluded that the UK’s inaction is a profound diplomatic failure: “The United Kingdom is enabling the persecution of its own citizen. By refusing to speak, intervene, or even acknowledge the absurdity of prosecuting a British citizen on a dead, repealed, and judicially buried charge, the UK has abandoned its own legal heritage, abandoned its own citizen, abandoned the rule of law it once championed.” AVID ominously warned that “history will record it,” labeling the situation as “The United Kingdom’s shame.”
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The urgency of the statement is tied to the upcoming judgment. Justice James Omotosho has fixed the 20th of November, 2025, to deliver judgment in Kanu’s trial.
Speaking ahead of the verdict, AVID reiterated the assertion that the entire case is legally defunct, stating: “On 20 November 2025, Justice James Omotosho will attempt to deliver judgment in a criminal case that has been legally dead for years.”
They pointed out that “Count 7 before him is the identical twin of the old Count 15 that the Supreme Court of Nigeria, on 15 December 2023, examined and declared: ‘The offence as laid does not exist in the body of our laws … Count 15 is incompetent and is hereby struck out.’” They also noted the issue with the remaining charges: “The other six counts are laid under the Terrorism (Prevention) Act 2011 as amended in 2013 a statute that the National Assembly repealed and replaced on 12 May 2022, three years before the fresh arraignment.”
AVID’s final demand is for a complete dismissal of the case, restating Kanu’s team’s argument that “no court in Nigeria in 2025 has jurisdiction to try any citizen, under any circumstances, on the strength of a repealed law or a count the Supreme Court has declared non-existent.”
The association asked the court to “strike out the entire charge and order the immediate, unconditional release of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.” It warned: “Anything less is not justice. It is judicial rebellion against the Constitution. It is contempt of the Supreme Court. And it is persecution aided and abetted by the silence of the United Kingdom. The world is watching.”