Britain, firm seek Kanu’s consent to take over case
The British High Commission and law firm in London, Bindmans, has sought the consent of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, to take up his case.
It was gathered on Thursday that Kanu’s Nigerian lawyer, Aloy Ejimakor, delivered two forms to the IPOB leader on Wednesday during a visit to the office of the Department of State Services, where he is being detained.
Ejimakor said that the development would open up a new chapter in the trial of Kanu, adding that the Nigerian government would be served with summons to bring him to the United Kingdom, where another case would be heard over the matter of his rendition to Nigeria.
“The forms will open a new chapter of legality, including the filing of a Whit of Mandamus, against the Nigerian government in the UK court to compel it to produce Kanu, because his detention is illegal under British law. It was an extraordinary rendition, which is an international crime, by which a state kidnaps a suspect or a fugitive without the due process of law.
“They will be filing all these processes in the UK, and there is a prospect of a UK court assuming universal jurisdiction and reaching into Kenya so that they can arrest every Kenyan official, either authorized or not , and every Nigerian official involved in this case”.
The lawyer noted that the DSS collected the forms, saying they must first go through the vetting of its legal unit.
He said, despite being told that he would collect them on Thursday, he had yet to be contacted by the government agency.
Ejimakor said, during his three-hour meeting, the IPOB leader gave a vivid account of how the Nigerian government hired agents, who abducted and flew him into the country.
While quoting Kanu, he said the IPOB leader was blindfolded and flown on a private jet without any extradition hearing or immigration process.
He stated, “Kanu said he was flown to Abuja in a private jet on Sunday, June 27, 2021, from the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, Nairobi, and that he was the lone passenger.
“The plane departed Nairobi around 12pm and arrived in Abuja in the evening.
“Kanu was tortured and subjected to untold cruel and inhuman tratment in Kenya. He said his abductor disclosed to him that they abducted him at the behest of the Nigerian government.
“The people that abducted him said they were told by their sponsors that Kanu was a Nigerian terrorist linked to Islamic terrorists in Kenya, presumably Al-Shabab. But after several days when they discovered his true identity, they tended to treat him less badly.
“Despite that, they told him they felt committed to hand him over to those that hired them.
“According to Kanu, no warrant of arrest was shown to him or even mentioned to him. And for eight days, he was held incommunicado, nothing of presenting him before a court or transferring him to an official detention facility was ever mentioned. He was held in a nondescript private facility and chained to a bare floor.
“Kanu was interviews for the first time in my presence by three DSS officers. The interview was revealing as it contained certain new allegations that were never heard of before. But all the questions relate directly or indirectly to his status as the leader of IPOB”.
The counsel said despite hiss client’s ordeal, he was in high spirits.
