Nnamdi Kanu requests UK’s intervention in his continued detention, trial

Nnamdi Kanu, chief of the Indigenous Folks of Biafra (IPOB), has requested the UK authorities to intervene in his trial and continued detention on the facility of the Nigeria’s State Safety Service (SSS).

Since his re-arrest in July 2021, Mr Kanu, a British-Nigerian citizen, has been detained on the SSS facility. He’s going through terrorism trial at a Federal Excessive Courtroom, Abuja.

In a letter dated 18 January and addressed to the Home of Commons, the decrease chamber of the UK parliament, the IPOB chief appealed to the lawmakers to prevail on the UK Authorities to intervene in his matter in Nigeria.

Aloy Ejimakor, Mr Kanu’s particular counsel, who signed the letter, stated he had the instruction of the IPOB chief to take action.

Mr Kanu, within the letter to the parliament, detailed how he was first arrested, his preliminary trial, and the way he fled Nigeria after Nigerian safety forces invaded his house city in Abia State, Nigeria’s South-east.

Prayers

The IPOB chief, within the letter, offered some prayers which he pleaded with the parliament to think about for potential implementation.

“Urgently intervene in His Majesty’s (UK) Authorities, strongly urging it to promptly make calls for on the Authorities of Nigeria to unconditional launch of Mr Kanu from detention and repatriate him to the UK and to levy sanctions in opposition to the Authorities of Nigeria if it fails to conform inside an affordable time,” the letter learn partially.

Mr Kanu argued within the letter that his extraordinary rendition to Nigeria from Kenya “inherently destroys each prospect for a good trial in a jurisdiction that levied the rendition.”

He cited earlier court docket rulings within the UK to assist his place.

The IPOB chief stated, within the different, the parliament ought to “promptly intervene with His Majesty’s Authorities, strongly urging it to make binding proposals to the Authorities of Nigeria to conform to conduct” his trial within the UK as an alternative of Nigeria.

He argued that since costs most popular in opposition to him by the Nigerian authorities had been alleged to have been dedicated by him within the UK, there are authorized causes for which he needs to be tried within the UK, moderately than in Nigeria.

Mr Kanu talked about his British-Nigerian citizenship, human rights issues, present Nigerian-British diplomatic concerns, safety and security, honest trial and prospect of political interference as among the causes for which he needs to be tried within the UK.

Mr Kanu stated, if conducting his trial in UK might be unattainable, the parliament could alternatively intervene with His Majesty’s Authorities, urging it to make binding proposal to the Nigerian authorities to conform to conduct his trial in a “mutually agreed impartial third nation, apart from Nigeria and the UK, as was performed within the Lockerbie trial of Libyan nationals.”

Why the request for help

The letter stated the choice to make the request to the parliament was propelled by “undue levity” with which the UK authorities has to date dealt with Mr Kanu’s matter.

It stated the IPOB chief believes that he “has not been accorded the complete authorized and diplomatic protections he’s entitled to as a bonafide British topic.”

READ ALSO: Nnamdi Kanu decries delayed transmission of his case file to Abuja court docket

The letter indicated that Mr Ejimakor, Mr Kanu’s authorized group within the UK, and the IPOB chief’s US-based worldwide counsel, Bruce Fein, are all accessible to “personally seem” earlier than the parliament every time it deems crucial in the middle of contemplating the petition.

Background

Mr Kanu, the IPOB chief, was first arrested in 2015 below the administration of the then Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari.

The Courtroom of Attraction, Abuja, on 13 October 2022, held that the IPOB chief was extra-ordinarily renditioned to Nigeria and that the motion was a flagrant violation of the nation’s extradition treaty and likewise a breach of his elementary human rights.

The court docket, due to this fact, struck out the terrorism costs filed in opposition to Mr Kanu by the Nigerian authorities and ordered his launch from the SSS facility.

However the authorities refused to launch the IPOB chief, insisting that he (Kanu) might be unavailable in subsequent court docket proceedings if launched and that his launch would trigger insecurity within the South-east, the place he comes from.

The federal government, via the workplace of the Lawyer-Basic of the Federation, later appealed the court docket ruling and subsequently obtained an order staying the execution of the court docket judgment on the Supreme Courtroom.

Delivering judgment on the attraction on 15 December, the Supreme Courtroom reversed the acquittal granted to Mr Kanu by the decrease court docket and consequently ordered continuation of his trial on the Federal Excessive Courtroom Abuja.