Trouble is looming for five Nigerian jurists and a former Attorney General of the Federation(AGF) as they could be sanctioned by the U.S President, Donald Trump, following the perceived ignoble roles they played in the ongoing political trial of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.
Kanu, who is the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has been in detention for four years now and being subjected to a politically-motivated trial by the Nigerian state.
But the roles played by some judicial officers in perpetrating the injustice against Kanu has not escaped the watchful eyes of three nonprofit organizations run by Igbos in the diaspora.
The three organizations – the American Veterans of Igbo Descent (AVID), Rising Sun Charities Organization, and Ambassadors for Self-Determination – have, therefore, jointly petitioned Trump asking for the identified jurists to be punished over the “protracted persecution” of the Biafra self-determination leader.
Those accused of being responsible for travesty of justice in Kanu’s ordeal include Justice Binta Murtala Nyako, Justice Haruna Simon Tsammani, Justice Hamma Akawa Barka, Justice Mohammed Lawal Garba, and former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Olukayode Ariwoola. A former AGF, Abubakar Malami was also included among the candidates for sanctions.
In their petition dated August 28, 2025, made available to the media Friday, August 29m, the three non-profit groups, “substantially dedicated to monitoring gross violations of internationally recognized human rights, especially in Nigeria”, frowned at the gross violations of Kanu’s internationally recognised human rights.
In the petition filed on their behalf by the Law Offices of Bruce Fein, the groups stated that the sanctions being sought against the listed Nigerian jurists was in “pursuant to the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, 22 U.S.C. 10102, and E.O. 13818”.
“The three nonprofit organizations urge Magnitsky sanctions against a quintet of Nigerian judges implicated in the persecution of Biafran leader Mazi Nnamdi Kanu for exercising his rights to free speech and association and a fair trial,” the petition reads.
They also seek Magnitsky sanctions against Nigeria’s former Attorney General of the Federation(AGF), Abubakar Malami, who was the chief law officer under the administration of late President Muhammadu Buhari during which Kanu’s rights and international law were violated.
Global Magnitsky sanctions are targeted financial and travel sanctions that the U.S. and other countries can impose on individuals and entities responsible for gross human rights violations or significant corruption.
The rights violations listed against the affected jurists include “ongoing arbitrary detention as determined by the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, denial of the right to fair-trial rights, and judicial endorsement of Mr. Kanu’s kidnapping, torture, and extraordinary rendition from Kenya to Nigeria”.
The nonprofit organizations argued that “judges enjoy no immunity for gross violations of internationally recognized human rights”, citing the prosecution of Nazi by the United States “for presiding over sham trials where the outcome had been predetermined by Nazi authorities”.
They also referenced the sanctioning of a Russian judge Olesya by the United States on December 31, 2024, “for participating in the arbitrary detention of Moscow city counselor and human rights defender, Alexi Gorniov, for voicing opposition to Russia’s war in Ukraine”.
Kanu: His detention, trial could spell trouble for five Nigerian jurists
According to the petitioners, the jurists that presided over Kanu’s matter at the trial court and the appellate level did not discharge their duties with fairness and regard to the rights of the IPOB leader.
They alleged that the justices in their judgements endorsed arbitrary detention, denial of right to counsel and access to necessary medical care, endorsement of ex-parte proscription of IPOB without due process.
The Supreme Court verdict December 15, 2023, which ambiguously acknowledged that “the Nigerian government’s extraordinary rendition of Mr. Kanu was criminal” but still gave “affirmation of arbitrary detention to enable Nigerian government to profit from its own crimes against Mazi Nnamdi Kanu”.
On Malami’s sins, the groups specifically accused the former AGF of “orchestrating Kanu’s kidnapping, torture, extraordinary rendition and arbitrary detention without trial.”
The petitioners vehemently condemned Kanu’s protracted persecution, and the military invasion of his Umuahia family home on September 14, 2017 during which claimed scores of Biafra activists were killed.
They argued that Kanu did no wrong in asking for Biafra self-determination, noting that under international laws, demanding for referendum through peaceful means not have attracted persecution by Nigeria’s authorities.
“Nigeria’s protracted persecution of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu for peaceful advocacy of a self determination referendum in Biafra commenced as early as 2015,” the petitioners said, adding that there’s no end in sight to the ordeal.
“Concurrently, Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) was banned as an alleged terrorist organization in an illegal ex-parte proceeding that provoked the protest of five (5) United Nations Special Rapporteurs on human rights in an October 1, 2020, letter to Nigeria’s President Mohammadu Buhari”.
The three nonprofit organizations passionately appealed to President Trump to take drastic action against the listed Nigerian jurists for promoting injustice, violations of human rights, and muzzling of free speech.
They insisted that the Nigerian Justices and the former AGF deserve “Global Magnitsky Sanctions for violating Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s internationally recognized human rights in defense of free speech and association; and fair trial, to peacefully promote the Biafran right to self-determination enshrined in international law”.
