Kanu’s legal team thanks America, for officially, publicly acknowledging unlawfulness of Kanu’s rendition
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The legal team for the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra
(IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu has reacted to a reported publication of the United
States government where the US government reportedly acknowledged officially
that Nigeria’s secret police had violated Kanu’s rights concerning his arrest
and extradition.
According to the said report, Kanu was confirmed a victim of arbitrary
arrest on June 29, 2021 which was announced by the then Attorney-General of
Nigeria, Abubakar Malami.
This was contained in a press release Kanu’s head of legal team, Aloy
Ejimakor, Esq. made available to Nijasun.com.
“The attention of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s Legal Team has been drawn to an
official publication (a few days ago) by the United States government,
captioned: “2023 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Nigeria”, whereby
the US government acknowledged the obvious that “Nigeria’s secret police had
violated Kanu’s rights during his arrest and extradition” and that Kanu was a
victim of “arbitrary arrest” in June 2021.
“On behalf of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, his Legal Team hereby expresses its
profound appreciation to the Government of the United States including, in
particular, the US Mission in Nigeria. It is indeed a demonstration of
diplomatic courage.
“It needs to be emphasized that this laudable position the US
government has waited for almost three years to take and make public is surely
well-considered and thus important for two reasons.
“First, it affirms the case-in-chief we have adduced since June 2021
that Mazi Nnamdi Kanu was unlawfully renditioned, not lawfully extradited.
These are two opposite concepts that bear dissimilar legal implications.
“Second, it is expected that – coming from a respected and an
influential foreign power like the United States – this public acknowledgement
will likely encourage the Government of Nigeria to also acknowledge that it had
gravely violated Kanu’s inalienable human rights by subjecting him to a
horrendous extraordinary rendition.
“To be sure, one way the Government of Nigeria can come clean and
acknowledge this egregious wrong done to Mazi Nnamdi Kanu is to banish any
further temptations to impunity and summon its powers and discretions under the
Constitution to bring the prosecution of Nnamdi Kanu to closure, without
further ado.
“In our view, this is the most sensible thing to do because Kanu’s
prosecution has, by effluxion of time, become attritional and questionable to
boot, given that it was initiated almost a decade ago in 2015 and for alleged
offences that are no longer in play.
“There are other cogent reasons, including the open and notorious fact
that it is becoming increasingly clear that Nnamdi Kanu may never get a fair
trial by dint of the grave complications created by the locale of his current
detention, “Ejimakor submitted.