The leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu has sued Kenya government claiming that he is being extradited to Nigeria.
The pro-Biafra activist’s brother, Kingsley Kanunta, sued on his behalf, according to court papers obtained by the newsmen.
In his petition presented by Luchiri and Company Advocates, Kanu claimed that his detention in Kenya and subsequent extradition to Nigeria in June were unlawful in a suit filed.
Kanunta said Kenya’s Interior CS, Director of Immigration, Director of Criminal Investigations, OCPD Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, and Attorney General are cited as respondents.
Nigerian officials stated on June 29 that Kanu had been brought back to stand trial after he allegedly escaped bail and fled in 2017.
READ ALSO:IPOB Leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu sues FG, Demands Return to Britain
But the petition revealed that Kanu was in Kenya to seek medical attention for a heart challenge and for “Indigenous People of Biafra-related work”.
According to the report, the agitator arrived at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in May on an East African tourist visa from Kigali, Rwanda.
And Kanu also went to the airport on June 19 to pick up someone but never returned to his Kitale Lane apartment, Purple Haze Apartments.
“The subject is believed to have been apprehended at the airport on June 19, 2021, and unlawfully detained for several days after which he was illegally and stealthily extradited to Nigeria without his British passport in utter-non-compliance with laid down processes of laws in Kenya”, the petition added.
While criticizing Kanu’s extradition to Nigeria, “Kanu is a British citizen resident in the United Kingdom”.
“He formerly held Nigerian citizenship but renounced it in 2015. Consequently, his Nigerian passport was taken away from him by Nigerian authorities.”
However, Kanunta claimed that Kanu’s extradition from Nairobi to Abuja in June was illegal under Kenya’s Extradition (Contiguous and Foreign Countries) Act, Chapter 76.
According to the petition, Kanu asked the court to declare his extradition “a violation of the fundamental rights and freedoms to equal protection of the law, human dignity, freedom and security, freedom of movement, fair administrative action, access to justice, the right to be represented in court, and a fair hearing as guaranteed by the Constitution of Kenya”.
He also asked for an order for exemplary and punitive damages “against the respondents for their blatant breach of the subject’s fundamental freedoms and rights as mentioned in the petition”.
Kanunta further declared that “detaining Kanu without cause and without telling him of the reasons for his imprisonment, and holding him incommunicado in appalling and inhumane conditions” constituted a violation of his constitutional rights.
