Biafran separatist leader kidnapped by Nigeria in Kenya, according to his family | Nigeria

A Biafran separatist leader and British national has been arrested by Nigerian authorities in Kenya and taken to Nigeria as part of an extraordinary act of rendition, his family and lawyers have said.

Nnamdi Kanu, a British and Nigerian citizen, fled Nigeria in 2017 while on bail and charged with terrorism and incitement. He was arrested last week and taken to Abuja, the capital of Nigeria.

Nigerian authorities have refused to say where he was taken from. The sudden arrest caused general surprise in Nigeria, as his whereabouts had not been known for years.

Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (Ipob) – a banned separatist movement in Nigeria – has long been a widely known and controversial figure in Nigeria. He called for independence for Biafra, notably on the broadcasts of Radio Biafra – a digital station he founded and ran from his home in south London.

Kanu was first indicted in 2015, when mass secessionist Biafra protests erupted in Nigeria for the first time since the Biafran civil war. The conflict is one of the darkest chapters in Nigerian history and the bitter legacy still resonates in Nigeria.

Kanu’s whereabouts have not been known since leaving Nigeria in 2017, after soldiers attacked his home in Abia state during one of several military operations against separatist agitators in the region.

His brother Kingsley Kanu said he spoke to him while in Kenya, days before his disappearance in June.

“I spoke to him on the phone, he was fine in Nairobi. His associates said he was out, did not take his documents with him and therefore did not plan to go anywhere. Then all of a sudden we see him marching handcuffed through Abuja, ”Kingsley Kanu said.

“It is an extraordinary restitution, helped by the Kenyan authorities”, he declared. “This is a scandal that cannot be allowed to happen. We hold the Nigerian government and the Kenyan government to account. The British government knows what is going on,” he said, adding that British officials had contacted Kanu’s family and legal team and feared that he would be mistreated in detention.

“I’m worried about his welfare because you know how they will treat him,” Kingsley said.

Lawyers for the Kanu family accused the Nigerian government of “state kidnapping” and said he was kidnapped by Nigerian officials in Kenya and taken to Nigeria against his will.

Evidence seen by the Guardian shows Kanu entered Kenya this year on his British passport with a visa expiring in June. His British passport remains in Kenya.

Kanu was not in possession of a Nigerian passport, his family said, and he verbally renounced Nigerian citizenship on broadcasts.

Abduction of a person in a foreign country for the purpose of bringing them to justice is illegal under international law.

Nigerian and Kenyan authorities have denied that Kenya was involved in the arrest, while the British consulate in Nigeria said they have contacted the Nigerian government about the case. British officials did not immediately respond to Guardian requests for information.

For Kanu’s many supporters, he is Biafra’s most vocal and provocative advocate for independence. Secessionist protests were brutally stopped in Nigeria. Yet broadcasts calling for mass uprisings, mocking President Muhammadu Buhari and targeting ethnic groups in Nigeria have angered Nigerian authorities.

Nigeria’s Attorney General Abubakar Malami said on June 29 that Kanu had been extradited to Abuja after cooperation between Nigerian intelligence services and Interpol.

“He was brought back to Nigeria to continue to stand trial after he went missing while on bail,” said Malami. He accused Kanu of “engaging in subversive activities” and of being responsible for the escalation of armed attacks against police and civilian authorities in south-eastern Nigeria, blamed on armed separatist groups.

Kanu’s arrest comes amid growing tensions around regional divisions within Nigeria and armed separatism in the southeast.

Since the security forces brutally cracked down on mass protests that began in 2015, armed attacks in the region have escalated. More than 150 people were killed in pro-Biafra rallies between August 2015 and August 2016, according to Amnesty International.

The protests were in part a response to the election of President Buhari, who served as a brigade major during the Civil War. Millions of people have starved to death in the conflict, mainly in south-eastern Nigeria, after a government blockade of the region cut off food supplies and humanitarian aid.

Last month, Twitter deleted a post from Buhari for violating its abuse rules, after citing civil war in a threat to armed groups in Biafra.

“Those of us in the fields for 30 months, who have been through the war, will treat them in the language they understand,” the president said, drawing massive condemnation.

In retaliation, the government banned the use of Twitter in Nigeria.

The legacy of the war is still bitter in Nigeria. Authorities censor cultural representations of conflict and war is not taught in most schools.