by Peregba Jerry
The British High Commission and a law firm in London, Bindmans, have sought the consent of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, to take up his case.
It was gathered that on Thursday, Kanu’s Nigerian lawyer, Aloy Ejimakor, delivered two forms to the IPOB leader on Wednesday during a visit to the office of the Department of State Services, where he is being detained.
Ejimakor told newsmen that the development would open up a new chapter in the trial of Kanu, adding that the Nigerian government would be served with summons to bring him to the United Kingdom, where another case would be heard over the manner of his rendition to Nigeria.
He said, “I went to visit him on Wednesday and went with two forms. One was the consular consent form that the British High Commission required that he signs to consent to consular assistance. There was also a form from his counsel in the UK. The firm is known as Bindmans, one of the largest law firms in the UK.
“The forms will open a whole new chapter of legality, including the filing of a Writ of Mandamus, against the Nigerian government in a UK court to compel it to produce Kanu, because his detention is illegal under the British law. It was an extraordinary rendition, which is an international crime by which a state kidnaps a suspect or a fugitive without the due process of law.
“They will be filing all these processes in the UK and there is a prospect of a UK court assuming universal jurisdiction or extra-territorial jurisdiction and reaching into Kenya so that they can arrest every Kenyan official, either authorised or not, and every Nigerian official involved in this case.”
The lawyer noted that the DSS collected the forms, saying they must first go through the vetting of its legal unit.
He said despite being told that he would collect them on Thursday, he had yet to be contacted by the government agency.
Ejimakor said during his three-hour meeting, the IPOB leader gave a vivid account of how the Nigerian government hired agents, who abducted and flew him into the country.
While quoting Kanu, he said the IPOB leader was blindfolded and flown on a private jet without any extradition hearing or immigration process.
He stated, “Kanu said he was flown to Abuja in a private jet on Sunday, June 27, 2021, from the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, Nairobi, and that he was the lone passenger.
