A federal high court in Umuahia, Abia state, has ordered the
federal government to return Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of
Biafra (IPOB), to Kenya.
Kanu was extradited from the East African country to Nigeria
in June 2021.
The court also ordered the government to pay Kanu N500
million as damages for his illegal abduction and violation of his fundamental
human rights.
In the suit filed through his counsel, Aloy Ejimakor, Kanu
had challenged his extradition from Kenya by the “agents of the federal
government”.
Kanu alleged that he was kidnapped from Kenya and brought
back to Nigeria to stand trial.
He argued that the federal government should be required to
show the legal document or authority that served as the foundation for his
“abduction or extraordinary rendition”.
“My client remains an unlawfully expelled individual, and
cannot be subjected to any trial because he was unlawfully renditioned,” the
lawyer said.
He also said the United Nations commission on human rights
had already directed the Nigerian authorities to unconditionally release Kanu,
and compensate him for the violation of fundamental human rights.
Among several reliefs sought, Kanu prayed the court for “an
order mandating and compelling the respondents to pay the sum of
N25,000,000,000.00 (Twenty-Five Billion Naira) to the applicant, being monetary
damages claimed by the applicant against the respondents jointly and severally
for the physical, mental, emotional, psychological, property and other damages
suffered by the applicant as a result of the infringements of applicant’s
fundamental rights by the respondents”.
An order is also sought to halt Kanu’s prosecution and
restore him to the status quo before his rendition on June 19, 2021.
Delivering a ruling in the suit on Wednesday, Evelyn
Anyadike, the presiding judge, agreed that the extradition of Kanu from Kenya
without recourse to the legal process was a flagrant abuse of his fundamental
human rights.
She held that the respondent failed to disprove the claims
of the applicant that he was arrested, blindfolded, tortured, and chained to
the ground for eight days in Kenya before his extradition.
This verdict is coming barely a week after the court of
appeal in Abuja discharged Kanu on charges of terrorism on the grounds that he
was illegally renditioned to Nigeria.
The court further held that having “illegally and forcefully
renditioned” the appellant, the trial court is stripped of jurisdiction to
continue to try Kanu.
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