Nigeria separatist group Indigenous
People of Biafra (IPOB) has sued U.S.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken and
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin over the
sale of attack planes.

IPOB said the Nigerian government will
use the warplanes to attack its
supporters.

United States - based constitutional
lawyer Bruce Fein filed the case in a
federal court in Washington on
Saturday on behalf of IPOB and 10
unidentified individuals based in the
secessionists’ heartland in southeastern
Nigeria.

IPOB submitted a complaint against the
top US officials in a federal court in
Washington on Saturday.

Fein is seeking 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.

He said IPOB “reasonably fear that the
A- 29 Super Tucano aircraft will be used
imminently to kill or maim them
physically or to destroy their property.”

Nigeria and the United States agreed on
the sale of the planes in 2017 under
former President Donald Trump, after
his predecessor, Barack Obama,
suspended the deal over concerns about
Nigerian security forces' human rights
records.

However, Nigeria reestablished a deal
with the United States in 2020 and
ordered for planes to tackle insurgency
in the northeast of the country.

Nigeria’ s air force is awaiting the
arrival of the second batch of aircraft,
which are made in the U.S. by Brazil's
Embraer SA and Nevada - based Sierra
Nevada Corp, in a deal worth $593
million.

IPOB said, by allowing Nigeria to
receive six Super Tucano planes on July
21, Blinken and Austin violated laws
that are supposed to “shield citizens of
foreign sovereigns from harm caused by
United States weapons in the hands of
security forces guilty of gross human
rights violations.”

Bloomberg reports that a spokesman for
Nigeria’s Justice Ministry said the
government is “globally recognized for
respecting human rights” and the
allegations in the complaint are
“speculative guesswork.”

Fein said IPOB’s the “ultimate objective
is peaceful means to obtain a Biafran
sovereignty referendum under United
Nations auspices.”

But the Nigerian government accuses
IPOB of waging a violent campaign,
especially attacks on security structures
and personnel in the southeast region.

IPOB ’s lawsuit against the United States
senior officials came weeks after the
Nigerian government announced the
arrest of IPOB’s leader Nnamdi Kanu in
June, who was abducted in Kenya and
returned to Nigeria.

Kanu is in detention in Abuja where he
is undergoing a treason trial.