Germany-based Kingsley Kanu has filed a suit against the Kenyan government at the High Court of Kenya, Nairobi for its involvement in the abduction and extraordinary rendition of his brother and leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu to Nigeria.
According to the lawsuit filed on Tuesday, there are five respondents which are the Cabinet secretary, Director of Immigration Services, Director of Criminal Investigations, Commanding Officer of Police at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport and the Attorney-General of Kenya.
Kanu’s special counsel in Nigeria, Aloy Ejimakor disclosed this to SaharaReporters on Thursday with evidence of court documents.
The lawsuit read partly, “This petition concerns the unconstitutional and unlawful removal engineered by the respondents through abduction, denial of fair administrative action in violation of the human dignity of the subject: Nwannekaenvi Nnamdi Kenny Okwu’Kan (Mr Kanu) whose presence in Kenya was lawful and non-threatening.
“This petition seeks a declaration of rights and appropriate reliefs against the involuntary and illegal return of Mr. Kanu to Nigeria when there were substantial grounds for believing that the person would be in danger of being subjected to torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment that is prohibited by the Constitution of Kenya and the human rights treaties in force in Kenya.
“The petitioner is a German citizen ordinarily residing in Munich within Germany. This petitioner brings this petition on behalf of his brother, Mr. Kanu.”
While speaking on the suit with BBC according to the audiotape obtained by SaharaReporters through Ejimakor, Kanu’s lead counsel in Kenya, Prof. George Wajackoyah said there are pieces of proof that the Kenyan government was culpable despite its denial of involvement.
Wajackoyah stated that Kanu cannot be tried in Nigeria because there was no due process in repatriating him to Nigeria, which made it an extra rendition, and the fact that Kanu is a British citizen and has renounced his Nigerian citizenship.
He said. “We filed a petition today (Tuesday) against the Kenyan government and various actors in this case for their unconstitutional and unlawful removal which denied our client his human rights, which was engineered by 1st to 5th respondents in the violation of human rights of Nnamdi Kanu.
“We are serving the respondents and from there, we take on. Once we filed and served, then the court will give us a date, and that should be within a very short period of time because it was served under a certificate of urgency.”
Speaking on the evidence that indicted the Kenyan government, the Kenyan lawyer disclosed, “We have copies of his passport and a stamp that he was indeed in Kenya. We also have evidence he was in his residence on a particular day. We also have material proof that he was at the airport on a particular day to meet a friend and there he was arrested. Definitely, he was kidnapped.”
Wajackoyah further told BBC, “Why on earth will the Kenyan government deport a British citizen to Nigerian territory. Kanu has renounced his Nigerian citizenship. Extradition and extra rendition are two things. Extradition has to follow due process, you can’t just pick up somebody and throw him. That’s barbaric. It’s outlawed by international law.
“If they are trying a Nigerian national, certainly (they will win). But, if they are trying a British national, not at all. It is an abuse of the court process for the Nigerian court to try a British citizen who has no connection with Nigeria and without due process. So, I have been given instruction by his family in London and his brother in Germany to file a lawsuit against the Kenyan government.”
