Embattled leader of proscribed Igbo separatist group, Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, has dragged the Nigerian and Kenyan governments before the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights tribunal over his rearrest, repatriation and subsequent incarceration.
According to his lead counsel, Aloy Ejimakor who made this known via a post on his Facebook page on Tuesday, Kanu is demanding that his initial status as a free man before his rearrest be restored.
In the statement, the IPOB leader said before he was abducted in Kenya at the instance of the Nigerian government, he was a free man, hence the tribunal should restore that status.
He also wants the governments of the two countries to give an account of the extraordinary abduction of the IPOB leader.
The statement reads:
“A few days ago, I commenced a continental legal action against Nigeria and Kenya before the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights, demanding accountability for the extraordinary rendition of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.
“Both countries also have extradition laws that prohibit this sort of reprehensible conduct that saw Kanu to Nigeria.
“Particularly, extraordinary rendition is expressly prohibited under the African Charter, where It provides in pertinent part that “A State may not transfer (e.g. deport, expel, remove, extradite) an individual to the custody of another State unless it is prescribed by law and in accordance with due process and other international human rights obligations. Extraordinary rendition, or any other transfer, without due process is prohibited.
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“A victim of extraordinary rendition is entitled to remedies mandated by the Charter.
“Therefore, among many other reliefs, I requested that Kanu be restored to his state of being before the rendition, which state of being was that he travelled to Kenya on his British passport and was duly admitted as such and as a free man.
“Further, that no valid territorial jurisdiction can issue from an act of extraordinary rendition because Kanu is, technically speaking, still in Kenya.
“I also requested the Commission to adopt other urgent measures as the Commission sees fit in the circumstances to protect Nnamdi Kanu in the interim.
“Any nation that dabbles in extraordinary rendition has unwittingly brought impediments to her territorial jurisdiction. So, Nigeria, whether it admits it or not, has triggered a hornets’ nest that has, for the first time, brought the international legal order to bear on the matter of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.”
