As Nigeria’s federal government continues to ignore seveeal entreaties to grant freedom to the detained leader of the IndigenousPeople of Biafra(IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, a U.S -based rights activist and former Mayor of Blanco, Texas, Mike Arnold, has renewed his call for his release.
The activist proposed that Kanu, who he described as “a prisoner of conscience” should be also be granted political asylum and international protection to put an end to his travails in the hands of Nigerian government.
Arnold made the call for Kanu’s freedom in a Congressional briefing he wrote entitled, “Nigeria at the Crossroads: The Case for Action” dated April 22, 2026, posted in mikearnold.org.
He said that the IPOB leader’s incarceration was politically motivated and reflects broader repression by the Nigerian government.
In the dossier he prepared on Nigeria following extensive tour of the country, Arnold noted that aspects of the law on which Kanu’s conviction was based had been “nullified by an Enugu High Court in 2023,” thereby raising concerns about the integrity of the prosecution.
The international rights activist questioned Nigeria’s legal process, citing the “controversial legal handling, forced transfer, and questions around due process”.
Kanu, a British-Nigerian and Biafra activist, was convicted in November 2025 on terrorism-related charges and sentenced to life imprisonment, after his abduction from Kenya in June 2021.
Arnold in the report described Kanu’s abduction and transfer from Kenya to Nigeria as an extraordinary rendition, and decried his subsequent transfer to Sokoto, about 800 kilometres from his base, “far from his family and legal counsel”.
He stated that Kanu’s treatment by the Nigeria authorities smacks of “selective justice and suppression of pro-Biafra voices,” especially when contrasted with what it described as leniency toward some individuals accused of incitement in Northern Nigeria.
“Nnamdi Kanu, British-Nigerian broadcaster from London – illegally abducted from Kenya, tried under a defunct law, now serving life in Sokoto for words spoken in Great Britain,” the report read.
To buttress the claim that Kanu was served selective justice, the report pointed out that “a northern Imam recently offered a one million naira bounty for the head of a pastor, then doubled it to taunt his critics. No charges. No official condemnation”.
Not only in Kanu’s case did the report observe instances of selective treatment, it also said that victims of terrorist violence were unfairly treated in contrast to the perpetrators.
According to the report, the Nigerian government goes to great expense to “rehabilitate the killers while millions of innocent displaced victims are denied, neglected, and dying.”
The report traced the Biafra issue to the 1967 secession and the subsequent civil war which caused the deaths of millions, largely from starvation due to blockade. It noted that Kanu has become a symbolic figure in the Biafra movement, which it linked to longstanding grievances over political and economic marginalisation in the South-East.
It argued that long afte the war, structural imbalances have persisted with political dominance remaining in the North, thereby becoming “a key driver of dissatisfaction in the South and a foundation for renewed agitation”.
The document described Biafra agitation as a legitimate self-determination struggle, insisting that Nigeria’s current structure is unsustainable.
It proffered a democratic resolution, including a new constitution and a “free election” in 2027, allowing citizens to determine their political future, adding that resolving agitations like Biafra movement “requires democratic choice rather than suppression”.
On the persistent killings linked to suspected herdsmen, the report faulted the framing of the atrocities as “farmer-herder” and “climate change” clashes, saying that the deceitful label started in U.S State Department during the administration of Barack Obama.
According to Arnold, the original reference document was written by a career Sharia propagandist paid by George Soros as a result of strong lobbying by Nigerian government and interest groups from North.
He said: “At least $10 million in confirmed US lobbying contracts are now running. Former top Trump administration staff, Nigerian government lobbyists, Northern imams, foreign agents, conflicted advisors, and now Russian state television, are among those working together to shield this regime from accountability”.
The international rights activist restated that Christian genocide is still going on in Nigeria despite persistent denials by the federal government,
“The real narrative is this: Nigeria is in the throes of an Islamic conquest. Since 2009 they have slaughtered as many as 125,000 Christians and 60,000 peaceful Muslims. This is not simply a religious freedom issue. It is urgent national and global security,” Arnold said.
