The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) leader, Nnamdi Kanu, Friday, approached the Federal High Court, Umuahia, to enforce his fundamental rights against unlawful expulsion and payment of N25 bill damages.
Leading a team of lawyers at the first hearing of the fundamental rights enforcement suit, Aloy Ejimakor, the special counsel to Kanu/IPOB said the suit is “sui generis primarily aimed at redressing the infamous unlawful expulsion or extraordinary rendition of Nnamdi Kanu”, which he said is a clear violation of Kanu’s fundamental rights under Article 12(4) of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights.
In addition, Ejimakor is asking the court to redress “the myriad violations that came with the rendition, such as the torture, the unlawful detention and the denial of his right to the fair hearing required by law before anybody is expelled from one country to the other”.
It will be recalled that the High Court of Abia State had on January 19 determined that portion of violation of Kanu’s fundamental rights that occurred in 2017.
However, the court, he said gave a “segmented judgment” and declined to rule on the rendition jurisdiction because the extradition lies within the exclusive jurisdiction of the Federal High Court.
“So, this instant suit is as a result of my considered decision that a fresh action before the Federal High will be the best routed towards addressing this matter of rendition or unlawful expulsion and its legal impacts on the prosecutorial powers of the Nigerian state”, Ejimakor said.
The extraordinary rendition of Nnamdi Kanu he said, triggered legal injuries that cut across multiple jurisdictions both Nigeria and abroad, adding “there are no new legal and even diplomatic issues that must be addressed in the United Kingdom, Kenya, the United Nations and the African Union”, stating that within Nigeria, the rendition has expanded the matter far beyond the realms of the trial going on in Abuja.
Among other things, Ejimakor is seeking a declaration that the arrest of the Kanu in Kenya by the federal government’s agents without due process of law is arbitrary, and that the respondents’ enforced disappearance of the applicant for eight days as well as their refusal to produce the applicant before a Kenyan court for the purpose of applicant’s extradition is illegal, unlawful, unconstitutional and amount to an infringement of his fundamental right against arbitrary arrest, right to personal liberty and fair hearing as enshrined and guaranteed under the pertinent provisions of CFRN and the Charter.
None of the respondents appeared in court.
However, the presiding judge, Justice Evelyn Anyadike, adjourned the matter till April 27, 2022, to enable it to determine if the respondents defaulted by not appearing based on territorial jurisdiction.
