Supreme leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, has sued Kenya over part played in his extradition to Nigeria.
The petition, which was signed by the brother of the pro-Biafra activist, Kingsley Kanunta, under the umbrella of Luchiri and Company Advocates, argued that his arrest in Kenya and subsequent extradition to Nigeria in June were unconstitutional.
Nigerian officials on June 29 had claimed Kanu was brought back to face trial after he jumped bail and went on the run in 2017, however, the petition disclosed that Kanu was in Kenya to seek medical attention for a heart challenge and for IPOB-related work.
Those named as respondents are Kenya’s Interior CS, Director of Immigration, Director of Criminal Investigations, OCPD Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, and the Attorney General.
The petition explained that the Kanu arrived at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in May from Kigali, Rwanda, where he moved into the Purple Haze Apartments on Kitale Lane in Kenya.
It further explained that Kanu went missing after he went to the airport on June 19, 2021, to pick someone; as it narrated that the activist is believed to have been apprehended and unlawfully detained for several days.
It stated that Kanu was “illegally and stealthily extradited to Nigeria without his British passport in utter-non-compliance with laid down processes of laws in Kenya,”
Further criticizing Kanu’s extradition to Nigeria, the petition explained that Kanu, who is a British citizen and stays in the United Kingdom had renounced his Nigerian citizenship in 2015, whereby his Nigerian passport was taken away from him by Nigerian authorities.
It argued that Kanu’s extradition from Nairobi to Abuja in June, violated the Extradition (Contiguous and Foreign Countries) Act Chapter 76 of the laws of Kenya.
Kanu, while asking 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 in the Constitution of Kenya, also sought an order for damages.
He noted that the sought damanges against the respondents was higed on account of their gross violation of his fundamental freedoms and rights as enumerated in the petition.
He further requested a declaration that “detaining the subject without justification and without informing him of the reasons for the detention, holding him incommunicado in deplorable and inhumane conditions” was a violation of rights protected by the Constitution.
Kanu also asked the court “to issue an order compelling the respondents to furnish him with the designations and ranks of state officers, public officers, police officers, agencies and departments, institutions and organs of government involved in his extradition.”
