Report: IPOB leader’s British passport in Kenya  

11 Jul Report: IPOB leader’s British passport in Kenya  

The British passport on which the re-arrested leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, purportedly travelled to Kenya, still remains in the East African country, The Guardian of London reported Saturday.

Kanu was re-arrested in Kenya in what the federal government called international collaborative efforts late last month.

Kenya had denied involvement in the operation.

Kanu later admitted to his counsel Ifeanyi Ejiofor that he was indeed nabbed in Nairobi from where he was flown to Abuja to continue his trial for treasonable felony.

But The Guardian in its report said evidence seen by it showed that Kanu entered Kenya this year on his British passport on a visa expiring in June.

It said the passport remains in Kenya.

The newspaper Saturday quoted Kingsley, Kanu’s bother, as saying he had spoken to him while he was in Kenya days before he went missing last month.

His words: “I spoke to him on the phone, he was well in Nairobi.

“His associates said he went out, he didn’t take his documents with him so he wasn’t planning on going anywhere.

“Then all of a sudden we see him paraded in handcuffs in Abuja.

“It is an extraordinary rendition, aided by Kenyan authorities.

“It is an outrage that cannot be allowed to happen. We are holding the Nigerian government and Kenyan government responsible.

“The British government, they know what is happening.”

Kingsly Kanu also said UK officials had made contact with the family and legal team and that there were concerns he would be abused in detention.

He said: “I am concerned for his wellbeing because you know how they will treat him.”

Kanu also claimed that his brother was not in possession of a Nigerian passport as he had verbally renounced Nigerian citizenship in broadcasts on Radio Biafra.

The British newspaper said abduction of a person from a foreign country with the aim of rendition to justice is illegal under international law.

But Attorney General of the Federation and Justice Minister Abubakar Malami has repeatedly denied that Kanu’s re-arrest was illegal as Nigeria applied due process in Kanu’s extradition.

“It was abundantly clear that bench warrant was lawfully and judiciously procured through judicial process by a competent court of law, whose bail condition Nnamdi Kanu breached with impunity,” the minister said last week.

He added: “There was no illegality in the entire process and the question of illegality does not even arise.

“It is a common principle of the law that he who comes to equity must come with clean hands.”