The detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, has petitioned the British House of Lords for urgent intervention in his detention and case with the Nigerian government.
Kanu, who possesses dual citizenship as a Nigerian and a Briton, wrote the petition through his special counsel, Barrister Aloy Ejimakor, describing himself as a political activist who is advocating for self-determination for the people of Biafra Nation, in the Southeastern region of Nigeria.
Kanu in the petition dated January 18, 2024, said that IPOB is registered as a legal entity in the United Kingdom and has numerous offices and chapters around the world. He noted that the group which was proscribed as a terrorist organisation by former President Muhammadu Buhari’s government operates in the open as a nonviolent group.
The IPOB leader recounted how his ordeal started in October 2015 when he was arrested in Lagos, Nigeria, a few days after he arrived from London, and was subsequently charged with treasonable offences, stemming solely from his pro-Biafra broadcasts on Radio Biafra from its location in London.
Kanu also recalled how from September 10 to 14, 2017, Nigerian security forces led by the Army attacked his home.
The petition reads, “The security forces used live bullets and other lethal munitions and several people including Mr. Kanu, his parents (now late), his siblings, children, women, the elderly, and numerous visitors were at the said home with Mr. Kanu during the attacks.
“At the end of the attacks, Mr. Kanu's home was badly damaged, dozens of people were killed, many were wounded and maimed, and the security forces captured several people alive and disappeared them to unknown locations to this day.
“In January 2022, a High court in Nigeria declared the military attacks at Mr. Kanu’s residence as unconstitutional and a breach of his fundamental rights and awarded him substantial monetary damages.
“In March 2018, the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights (ACHPR) issued an interim Decision, holding that the military attacks on Mr. Kanu (and the contemporaneous proscription of IPOB) violated the African Charter; and accordingly, the ACHPR wrote the former President of Nigeria to remedy the situation but the GON never implemented the Provisional Measures to this day.”
According to the petition, “As a direct consequence of the said military invasion and the nationwide manhunt for him, Mr. Kanu was compelled to flee Nigeria in search of refuge and to save his life”.
He said, “In the course of his involuntary exile, Mr. Kanu, on 12th May 2021, entered the Republic of Kenya as a British subject and was legally admitted on his British passport. After his admission, he settled-in at a temporary location in Nairobi, Kenya.
“After failing in the objective of killing Mr. Kanu during the September 2017 military operation against him, and being aware that he had taken refuge in Kenya, security forces of the GON hotly pursued Mr. Kanu to Kenya and laid in wait and ambushed him.
“On June 19, 2021, Mr. Kanu drove himself to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, Nairobi, Kenya on a personal errand.
“As soon as he pulled to a stop at the parking lot and alighted from his vehicle, several armed security agents working for GON violently accosted and abducted him, handcuffed him, blindfolded him, bundled him in a vehicle and sped away.
“The abductors took him to a nondescript private house (not a police station or other official location) somewhere in Nairobi, Kenya and chained him to the floor.
“Mr. Kanu was not shown any Kenyan arrest warrant or extradition warrant, nor was he informed of the existence of any such warrant. His abductors took turns beating him and torturing him, taunting him and verbally degraded him.
“He remained chained to the floor for eight days, was not allowed to bathe, was fed bland bread once a day and given non-sanitary water to drink.
“He was not taken before a Kenyan Court or even a Kenyan police station or other official law enforcement facility or even allowed a phone call.”
He was later flown to Nigeria from Kenya.
According to the petition, Kanu was on June 29, 2021, secretly arraigned and without benefit of his counsel of record before a Federal High Court in Abuja.
The petition said the “court wrongfully ordered him detained with Secret Police - State Security Services), instead of a prison facility, which is a clear violation of the provisions of the Nigeria’s Prisons Act, the Administration of Criminal Justice Act and the provisions of the Nigerian Constitution on right to Counsel.”
The petition noted that in October 2023, a High Court in Nigeria declared as unconstitutional the executive actions of the Nigerian government in the proscription of IPOB and its declaration as a terrorist group.
It said, “The Court awarded significant damages against the GON and ordered it to apologize to Mr. Kanu.
“On 13th October, 2022, Nigeria’s Court of Appeal delivered a judgment, ruling that the mode of transferring Mr. Kanu from Kenya to Nigeria amounted to extraordinary rendition. Accordingly, the Court discharged Mr. Kanu from all criminal charges pending against him.
“On 15th December 2023, the Nigerian Supreme Court remitted Mr. Kanu’s case back to the originating High Court to consider the charges will stand against him. However, the apex Court strongly condemned both the said military attacks against Mr. Kanu and his extraordinary rendition.
“Till date, however, the case file is yet to be transmitted to the High Court and the said judgment of remittal is yet to be enrolled and certified, thus leading to a situation where Mr. Kanu remains in limbo without any clear prospects of ever being brought to trial since this saga begin almost nine years ago in 2015.”
The petition pointed out that “Mr. Kanu is gravely ill with three life-threatening conditions, namely a serious heart condition, hypertension and low potassium levels”.
It said, “All of these serious conditions demand specialist medical care and interventions that are not available at the facility where he is being detained or even in Nigeria as a whole. And the GON is fully aware of this.
“In view of the foregoing, we hereby most respectfully present the following Prayers for the consideration of the House of Lords.
“Urgently intervene with His Majesty’s Government, strongly urging it to promptly make demands on the GON to unconditionally release Mr. Kanu from detention and repatriate him to the United Kingdom; and to levy sanctions against the GON if it fails to comply within a reasonable time.
“It is pertinent to stress the point that extraordinary rendition inherently destroys every prospect for a fair trial in the jurisdiction that levied the rendition. And UK courts have held in a plethora of cases that extraordinary rendition creates a barrier to the trial of a suspect.
“This was precisely the reason the United Kingdom had, in 1984, denied Nigeria’s formal application to extradite Umaru Dikko after his aborted extraordinary rendition from the UK.
“In our humble view, Mr. Kanu’s is no different, except that his case bears more equities because of his British nationality, as compared to Mr. Dikko who was not a British citizen.
“Additionally, extraordinary rendition is - by itself - a form of torture that should shock the conscience of the Parliament, especially when considered together with the actual physical torture levied on Mr. Kanu by agents of the GON in Kenya and the solitary confinement to which Mr. Kanu has been subjected to in Nigeria since June 2021.
“It is settled that torturing a British citizen overseas triggers the universal criminal jurisdiction of British courts.
“In alternative to above, Your Lordships are prayed to promptly intervene with His Majesty’s Government, strongly urging it to make binding proposals to the GON to agree to conduct Mr. Kanu’s trial in the United Kingdom.
“In addition to the fact that all the charges leveled against Mr. Kanu by the GON are alleged to have been committed by him from British soil, there are other legal reasons why Mr. Kanu should be tried in the UK rather than Nigeria.”
Kanu stated that his reasons for calling the British House of Lords for intervention include: “Nationality and Citizenship: Mr. Kanu is a dual citizen of Nigeria and the United Kingdom. As a British citizen, he has the right to seek legal protections from the UK government, which includes demanding that the UK be the venue for his trial.
“Human Rights Concerns: There are genuine concerns about the human rights situation and the treatment of defendants in Nigeria.
“Given Mr. Kanu's British citizenship, he would be more likely to receive a fair trial and be treated in accordance with international human rights standards if the trial is held in the UK.
“Diplomatic Considerations: The UK and Nigeria have a history of good diplomatic relations. Thus, the UK should have an interest in ensuring that one of its citizens receives fair treatment in a criminal trial, not conducted in Nigeria but in the UK.
“Security and Safety: We have real concerns about the security and safety of Mr. Kanu, including particularly potential threats to his life in Nigeria, evidenced by GON’s military operations against Mr. Kanu in 2017, the extraordinary rendition in 2021, the physical torture in Kenya and the persistent solitary confinement in Nigeria.
“Fair Trial/Political Interference: There are concerns about political interference in the legal process in Nigeria.
“A trial in the UK should mitigate these concerns, as well as ensure that the legal proceedings are fair and free from undue political influence.
“There is also every likelihood (as has happened before) that the GON will not abide by acquittal of Mr. Kanu by a Nigerian court.
“In alternative to Paragraph 2 above but for the same reasons stated therein, the Parliament may intervene with His Majesty’s Government, urging it to make binding proposals to the GON to agree to conduct Mr. Kanu’s trial in a mutually agreed neutral third country (other than Nigeria and the UK), as was done in the Lockerbie trial of Libyan nationals.
“Esteemed Members of the House of Lords, our decision to lay this Petition before you was propelled by the undue levity with which His Majesty’s Government has so far handled this matter.
“Mr. Kanu believes that he has not been accorded the full legal and diplomatic protections he is entitled to as a bonafide British subject.”