The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has dragged two top United States Officials -US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, and Defence Secretary, Lloyd Austin, to court over the sale of A-29 Super Tucano Military aircraft to the Nigerian Government.
The Federal Government on July 21, 2021, received the first batch of six A-29 Super Tucano military jets from the US, waiting for the next batch to be delivered.
The sale of the attack aircraft was agreed upon in 2017 under former US President, Donald Trump.
Barack Obama’s government, citing the Leahy Law, had suspended the sale of arms to the Nigerian government over concerns about its security forces’ Human Rights record during the Jonathan administration.
Under the Leahy Law, two statutory provisions prohibit the U.S. Government from using funds for assistance to units of foreign security forces where there is credible information implicating that unit in the commission of gross violations of Human Rights.
One statutory provision applies to the State Department headed by Blinken and the other applies to the Department of Defence, headed by Austin.
However, in a suit filed at a Federal Court in Washington on July 31, IPOB complained of the violation of the Leahy amendments 22 U.S.C. 2378d and 10 U.S.C 2249e and the Administrative Procedure Act 5 U.S.C 706 (A) and (C).
According to Bloomberg, the suit filed by Constitutional lawyer, Bruce Fein, on behalf of IPOB and 10 others, is seeking declaratory and injunctive reliefs against the Defendants.
The Plaintiffs asked the court to direct Blinken and Austin to block the transfer of six A-29 Super Tucano aircraft to Nigeria’s Air Force and to seek the return of six that were recently delivered.
The Plaintiffs claimed that by allowing Nigeria to receive six Super Tucano planes on July 21, the Defendants violated laws that are supposed to “shield citizens of foreign sovereigns from harm caused by US weapons in the hands of security forces guilty of gross Human Rights violations.”
The court filing accused President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration of gross Human Rights violations, citing instances of airstrikes in cities across the South-East.
In further claims, the Plaintiffs said IPOB’s ultimate objective is peaceful means to defend the Igbo ethnic group against discrimination by the Federal Government and to achieve an independent nation through a United Nations’ referendum.
The Plaintiffs said they “reasonably fear that the A-29 Super Tucano aircraft will be used imminently to kill or maim them physically or to destroy their property.”
In a supporting claim, the Plaintiffs alleged that Nigerian security forces in 2021, kidnapped and killed several IPOB supporters.
The lawsuit follows the re-arrest of IPOB’s leader, Nnamdi Kanu in June, through an unexplained secret means “in flagrant violation of international law,” the court filing stated.
