A lawsuit accusing the British government of refusing to acknowledge that detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu was the victim of extraordinary rendition to Nigeria began at a court in London on Tuesday, Reuters reports.
The case, brought by Kanu's brother, Kingsley Kanu comes after Nigeria's Court of Appeal on Oct. 13 dropped seven terrorism charges against Kanu, discharged and acquitted him.
Nigeria's Court of Appeal ruled that Kanu was abducted in Kenya and extraordinarily rendered to Nigeria in June 2021, but the government has refused to release Kanu from detention pending the determination of an appeal it filed at the Supreme Court challenging the decision of the Appeal Court.
Kanu holds both Nigerian and British citizenship and founded the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) in 2014 to press for the restoration of the former Republic of Biafra comprising the entire Eastern region of Nigeria.
IPOB says it is a non-violent organization fighting for self-determination for the people of Biafra and is determined to achieve independence through non-violent means.
Kingsley Kanu's lawyers are demanding that Britain's Foreign Office should reach "a firm, rather than provisional, view" on whether his brother was the victim of extraordinary rendition from Kenya to Nigeria.
Earlier, Kingsley said, "The Nigerian courts have shown that they uphold the rule of law and are willing to hold the Nigerian government accountable.
“I believe the British government must act equally decisively when the serious violations of the human rights of British citizens abroad are concerned, ” he added.
According to one of Kanu's lawyers, Charlotte Kilroy, the Foreign Office would be able to appropriately determine what steps to take to help the IPOB leader if a decision was made as to whether he was the victim of extraordinary rendition.
The evidence that Kanu was illegally taken from Kenya to Nigeria, she continued, is "overwhelming."
But James Eadie, representing the Foreign Office, argued that the British government was not obligated to decide the legality of Kanu's detention.
In his written arguments, he claimed that Kanu's case had come up in "at least 43 intergovernmental meetings or other bilateral exchanges," two of which involved then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari.
British officials had visited Kanu in jail, according to Eadie. To protect Kanu from "adverse effects," the Foreign Office chose not to publicly discuss Kanu's treatment, he added.
In June 2021, Kanu was apprehended in Kenya before being transferred against his will to Nigeria, where he has been detained by the department of state services, DSS since then.
The UK government continues to maintain that it is unable to identify how Kanu was taken to Nigeria (in June 2021), what happened to him on the route, whether he has been arbitrarily detained, and, if so, what action the UK should take.
This, notwithstanding the admissions from the Nigerian government, the October 13, 2022 ruling on the matter by the Nigerian Court of Appeal, and findings by the UN Human Rights Council Working Group on Arbitrary Detention.
In 1967, the Eastern region attempted to break away from Nigeria under the name of the Republic of Biafra, which set off a three-year civil war that resulted in the deaths of over a million people—mostly from starvation.
Let justice prevail- Primate Ayodele.
Meanwhile, Primate Elijah Ayodele, the leader of the INRI Evangelical Spiritual Church, has blamed politicians for the continued detention of Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB.
Primate Elijah Ayodele
In a statement signed by his media aide, Oluwatosin Osho, the spiritual leader warned that the Southeast region will experience more crisis if Kanu is not released as has been ordered by the Court of Appeal, Daily Post reports.
He urged President Mohammadu Buhari and the politicians who are responsible for Kanu's continued detention to back off and allow justice to be served.
Primate Ayodele also warned that the delay in settling the IPOB leader's issue would adversely affect the general election scheduled for 2023.
He said: “The more Nnamdi Kanu stays in prison, the more volatile the southeast zone becomes.
“If they want peace in the zone, politicians behind his travails should withdraw.
“The government should stop locking him behind bars. If he is guilty, let him be sentenced; if he is not, let him be set free, that’s the criteria for peace.’’
Politics and Opinion
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