The leaders of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, have been awarded N500 million in damages by a Federal High Court in Umuahia, the capital of Abia State, as a result of his unlawful kidnapping and violation of his human rights in Kenya.
Additionally, the Court mandated that the Federal government send him back to Kenya, from which he was extradited to Nigeria on June 19, 2021.
Kanu was extradited from Kenya without going through the proper channels, according to the court presided over by Justice E. N. Anyadike, and this was a gross violation of his basic human rights.
He concluded that the respondent had failed to refute the applicant’s claims that he had spent eight days shackled to the ground, abused, and blinded in Kenya prior to his extradition to Nigeria.
On June 19, 2022, Kanu petitioned the court to stop his extradition from Kenya through his special counsel, Aloy Ejimakor.
The infamous unlawful expulsion or extraordinary rendition of Kanu, which is a blatant violation of his fundamental rights under Article 12(4) of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights as well as Chapter IV of the Nigerian Constitution, is the main focus of the lawsuit, according to Ejimakor, who also told the court that it is sui generis (of a special class).
He said, ‘In addition to the rendition, I am asking the Court to redress the myriad violations that came with the rendition, such as the torture, the unlawful detention and the denial of the right to fair hearing which is required by law before anybody can be expelled from one country to the other.
“I am also seeking to halt his prosecution and restore him to the status quo before his rendition on 19th June 2021.
“You will recall that on January 19, 2022, the High Court of Abia State decided that portion of violation of Kanu’s fundamental rights that occurred in 2017. Even as I had made claims that bordered on rendition, the Court declined jurisdiction on grounds that rendition, being related to extradition, lies within the exclusive jurisdiction of the Federal High Court. This is what informed my decision to initiate the suit before the Federal High Court.
“To be sure, the extraordinary rendition of Nnamdi Kanu, triggered myriad legal questions that cut across multiple jurisdictions in Nigeria and even triggered the international legal order, to boot. In other words, the rendition has expanded the matter of Kanu far beyond the realms of the Abuja trial and opened up new legal frontiers that must be ventilated to the hilt before other courts and tribunals within and without Nigeria.
“Thus, this very case before the Federal High Court in Umuahia is one of such that is aimed at seeking a definitive judicial pronouncement on the constitutionality of the extraordinary rendition. The ones in the United Kingdom, Kenya, African Union, and the United Nations are in addition.
“I would like to seize this opportunity to express my profound appreciation to the highly competent and hardworking team of lawyers that I am leading in the prosecution of this complex suit. Special mention must be made of Barristers Patrick Agazie, Ifeyinwa Nworgu, Tochukwu Arugbuonye, Franklin Amandi, Ohaeto Uwazie and Mandela Umegborogu”.
“For ease of reference and avoidance of any doubt, the following are the specific reliefs that I requested in the Suit”.
As soon as the verdict was announced, Ejimakor told reporters that it had demonstrated how important the court still is to the average person.
He urged the federal government to comply with the court’s ruling and send Kanu back to Kenya.
