London newspaper says Nnamdi Kanu’s British passport in Kenya

 

The Guardian of London reported Saturday that Nnamdi Kanu’s British passport is in Kenya, further buttressing the fact that he was arrested in the East African country and extradited to Nigeria.

While the Kenyan government has denied that Kanu was arrested in its country, the Nigerian government continues to keep mum on the details of how it ‘intercepted’ the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) leader.

However, Nobel Laurette, Prof Wole Soyinka, while not specific on where Kanu was arrested said he believed the secessionist was kidnapped.

“Was it right ‘to have been kidnapped?’ You can say intercepted as much as you want but I think Kanu was kidnapped. That is wrong internationally and morally,” Soyinka told the BBC Pidgin in an interview.

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

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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.”

Kanu was arrested and flown back to Nigeria 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.

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

READ: Kenya detained Kanu 8 days before extradition to Nigeria

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

Kingsley 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 Nigeria’s Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, has repeatedly denied that Kanu’s re-arrest was illegal as Nigeria applied due process in his 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.”