Plaintiff Commence Case To Compel UK To Arrest And Repatriate Nnamdi Kanu To Nigeria

A plaintiff, Donald Okonkwo, in a newly filed case has urged the Federal High Court in Abuja to compel the British High Commission to arrest and repatriate the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, to Nigeria.

He filed the suit on Monday, joining the British High Commission, the Director-General of the Department of State Service and the Attorney-General of the Federation as the respondents to the suit.

He said violent activities of Kanu and members of his group such as their recent attack on the immediate-past Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, in Germany, and the threat by the group to arrest President Muhammadu Buhari in Japan were creating fears in the minds of innocent citizens.

He urged the court to declare among others that the BHC “is under obligation to repatriate the IPOB separatist leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, being a fugitive cum terrorist from the Great Britain where he has been hiding since September 2017 under the covers of his citizen status back to Nigeria, so he can stand his trial for treasonable felony”.

He asked the court to order both the BHC and the DSS boss to immediately “arrest and repatriate” the IPOB leader to Nigeria to face his trial.

He also urged the court to order the BHC “to tender public apology to the Federal Government of Nigeria in three national dailies within 21 days from date of delivery of judgment in this suit for her complicity in facilitating the escape for justice and harbouring” Kanu “thereby allowing him to cause innocent Nigerian citizens serious emotional trauma”.

Noting that the IPOB was a proscribed group in Nigeria, the plaintiff narrated how Kanu was charged before Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court in Abuja.

He also stated how the court later granted him bail, only for the IPOB leader to be pictured months later while praying at the Wailing Wall of Jerusalem, Israel, on October 19, 2018.

“That to make matters worse, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu eventually disappeared to Great Britain in September 2017 in an attempt to escape trial and the arms of the law after a week of high profile clashes between his group, Indigenous People of Biafra and the Nigerian Army,” the plaintiff said in a supporting affidavit.

The plaintiff accused the British High Commission of “arranging” and “facilitating the illegal travels” of Kanu to ensure he escaped justice from Nigeria where he was facing trial bordering on treasonable felony.

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