Kanu Must Not Die In Detention – Ozekhome Warns Buhari

The leader of the Indigenous People Of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu has been in the custody of DSS since he was arrested and brought back to Nigeria

Nnamdi has been charged with Terrorism and Treason and the trial is yet to be concluded.

Citing the condition and contraversy surrounding the arrest of his client, Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN) has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to release Nnamdi Kanu through a political solution.

According to him, the appeal is to enable Buhari to correct a long-standing travesty of the continued detention of Kanu by the Nigerian Government under cruel, inhuman and degrading conditions.

He noted that Kanu is currently standing trial at the Federal High Court for sundry offences, for which he was granted bail and he observed the terms and conditions of the bail until he was attacked by the men of the Nigerian Army.

He said, “It (the attack) was a state-sponsored assassination attempt on his life. As if that was not bad enough, Kanu’s subsequent sojourn in exile to seek refuge in London from where he travelled to Kenya, was brutally aborted on June 26, 2021, when he was savagely abducted, blindfolded, tortured and kept in solitary confinement for eight days in a secret location and forcibly brought back to Nigeria.

“This was carried out arbitrarily without due process and recourse to the judicial systems of Kenya, the UK and Nigeria.

“In Kenya, Kanu was tortured and made to disappear and kept out of circulation and public view in a secret facility for eight days by Kenyan authorities. It was an illegal collaboration between the Kenyan and Nigerian secret agents.”

Ozekhome argued that Kanu’s continued detention violates all known laws and norms of both international and domestic laws, including Nigeria’s obligations under binding international treaties.
He noted a particular concern was the July 20, 2022 ruling of the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention which was adopted on April 4, 2022, at its 93rd session held on March 30 to April 8, 2022, adding that the report was issued after the Nigerian government had filed her reply to UN body’s communication on January 25, 2022.

He added, “Kenya did not reply to the 16-page report that indicted both the Nigerian and Kenyan governments for Kanu’s arrest and extraordinary rendition, torture and continued detention.