Group calls U.S. commando operation in Caracas a grave breach of international law, urges the UN, AU, and Nigeria to act.
Abuja: The League of Northern Democrats (LND) has issued a strongly worded statement condemning reports that agents of the United States carried out a covert commando operation in Caracas, abducting Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, and forcibly transferring them to the U.S. to face domestic criminal charges.
The release signed by Dr. Ladan Salihu, Publicity Secretary of the LNG, describes the act as a “dangerous assault on the foundations of the post‑1945 international order.”
The LND therefore warned that such unilateral enforcement actions undermine the United Nations Charter, the principle of sovereign equality of states, and the inviolability of sitting heads of state.
The group recalled that the Global South and the Non‑Aligned Movement were born out of resistance to imperial domination and coercive regime‑change operations.
The abduction of a serving president outside any multilateral legal framework, it said, amounts to a return to gunboat diplomacy, long rejected by nations of Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean.
The LND further noted that the incident follows closely on the heels of what it described as an unlawful U.S. military operation in Nigeria, carried out under the guise of protecting Christians.
It warned that the normalization of such extraterritorial attacks by powerful states against weaker ones poses a direct threat to world peace, erodes diplomatic engagement, and exposes all states — particularly those of the Global South — to similar acts of lawlessness.
In light of the gravity of the situation, the LND called on the United Nations Security Council to urgently place the matter on its agenda and demand accountability.
It urged the United Nations to condemn the act and reaffirm sovereignty, non‑intervention, and equality of states.
The group also pressed the African Union to adopt a principled position resisting the re‑emergence of imperial practices, while demanding that the Federal Government of Nigeria, itself a recent victim of arbitrary U.S. force, publicly condemn the action and mobilize diplomatic efforts within the UN and AU to defend international legality and stability.
The LND stressed that no state, however powerful, is above international law, and that political disagreements or allegations of wrongdoing cannot justify the kidnapping of foreign leaders.
It reaffirmed its commitment to a rules‑based international order, peaceful resolution of disputes, and collective security of all nations.
“Silence or acquiescence in the face of such violations would only embolden further breaches and accelerate the breakdown of international norms painstakingly built over decades,” the statement concluded.
