Family of Arrested Biafran Separatist Accuses Raab of “Illegal Failure” | Nigeria

The family of a British national who was reportedly arrested in Kenya and taken to Nigeria as part of an extraordinary act of rendition has accused the British government of leaving him to unlawful detention and risk of torture.

Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the indigenous people of Biafra (Ipob) – a major separatist movement outlawed in Nigeria – fled the country in 2017 while on bail after soldiers attacked his family home in Abia.

Nigeria’s attorney general last month said Kanu, a father of two, had been extradited to the country’s capital, Abuja, with assistance from Interpol. Kanu entered Kenya this year on his British passport, with a visa expiring in June.

His wife, Uchechi Okwu-Kanu, and his brother, Kingsley Kanu, are threatening judicial review against Foreign Minister Dominic Raab for an alleged “unlawful failure” to provide consular assistance. Although the government requested access to Kanu, his family said he had to act urgently, saying his life was in danger.

His wife said: “Until they have access to my husband and can talk to him, the FCDO [Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office] not doing enough. My husband was kidnapped in Nairobi on June 18, he reappeared on June 29 in Abuja – for 10 days he disappeared. He is the victim of an extraordinary restitution; he is being held in the building of the state security services, to our knowledge he is being held incommunicado.

“His request for transfer to an ordinary prison was rejected; everything about my husband’s incarceration screams torture. My husband is British, his children are British. The Foreign Secretary should be on the phone with his counterpart in Nigeria and refuse to hang up until the Nigerian government grants the British High Commission immediate access to my husband. If that fails, Boris Johnson must call President Buhari. “

She said her last contact with her husband was on June 18, when her five-year-old son sent her a Father’s Day card, and Kanu said he would call after some meetings but never did. do. “He is upset that he hasn’t heard from his father and he doesn’t understand,” she said of their youngest son.

In 2015, Kanu was arrested in Nigeria and charged with terrorist offenses and incitement to terrorism, after broadcasting broadcasts on a digital radio station, Radio Biafra, which he founded from his home in London. He was released on bail in 2017 and fled the country after an attack on his family home, which he said killed 28 Ipob members.

His wife said his only “so-called crime” was to demand a referendum on self-determination in Biafra. “Only the UK government can prevent it from being subjected to further harm,” she said. “The future happiness of my family rests on Dominic Raab. He can end it all in an instant. He can stop my nightmare.

Kanu supporters were arrested at the Abuja District Court on Monday. A pre-action letter on judicial review, prepared by lawyers for Bindmans LLP, said the Ipob leader previously held Nigerian nationality but renounced it in 2015 and in response his Nigerian passport was withdrawn.

The letter said Kanu had told his Nigerian lawyers that he was tortured by Kenyan authorities prior to his transfer to Nigeria, adding: “There are lingering concerns that he is currently being tortured in detention in Nigeria. Similar actions by the Nigerian authorities against pro-Biafra activists have been widely reported and condemned by international human rights NGOs as well as the United Nations.

His family also said he was being denied treatment for heart disease.