British Lawyers Order Nigerian Government to Return Nnamdi Kanu

A coalition of Igbo / British lawyers resident in the UK has ordered the immediate release and return of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu

The group under the aegis of the Coalition of Igbo / British Lawyers, in a statement signed on Wednesday by Barrister Ebuka Okoroafor described as illegal the arrest and detention of Kanu.

They also condemned the Kenyan Government for arresting and handing him over to the Nigerian government considering he is a British citizen.

The lawyers accused the Kenyan government of violating the human rights of Kanu who holds both Nigerian and British passports and indeed travelled to Kenya on a British passport.

Excerpts of their statement:

“The coalition of Igbo / British lawyers condemns the illegal detention and subsequent handing over of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu to the Nigerian Government by the Kenyan Government.

“It is worthy of note to mention that Mazi Nnamdi Kanu entered Kenya with his British passport, and the Kenyan government is fully aware of his citizenship status but still went ahead to perpetrate their illegal act which does not only breach the personal human rights of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu but also undermines the sovereignty of the British government.

The coalition has vowed to drag the Kenyan government before the International Criminal Court (ICC), in The Hague, The Netherlands.

They also asked the Nigerian Government to return Kanu to the UK within 48 hours.

“While this serves as a pre-action notice to the Kenyan Government as we shall be heading to the International Criminal Court to rectify the injustice done as it is trite law that injustice to one is injustice to all, we are also by this medium informing the Nigerian Government that they have 48 hours to return Mazi Nnamdi Kanu to the United Kingdom.

“And if he has any charges to answer to, they should as a nation that is governed by the constitution, pass through the legal means of filing an extradition notice as failure to do so, we shall not hesitate to term this a declaration of war on not only Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and IPOB but all Igbos generally, and this we shall vehemently resist with all apparatus of law available at our disposal.

“While all this is being done, the Nigerian government is also being warned that no bodily harm whatsoever must be done to Mazi Nnamdi Kanu to avoid a total breakdown of law and order in the fast crumbling entity called Nigeria.”

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