Lawyer seeks UK intervention, says Nnamdi Kanu won’t get fair trial in Nigeria

Aloy Ejimakor, special counsel to Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), says his client will not get a fair trial in Nigeria.

On December 15, 2023, the supreme court ordered the continuation of the “terrorism” trial against the detained IPOB leader.

Ejimakor said Kanu’s lawyers are yet to receive the certified true copy (CTC) of the supreme court’s judgment.

In a letter addressed to the chairman of the foreign affairs committee of the house of commons, Ejimakor said: “Kanu remains in limbo without any clear prospects of ever being brought to trial since this saga begin almost nine years ago in 2015″.

“It is pertinent to stress the point that extraordinary rendition inherently destroys every prospect for a fair trial in the jurisdiction that levied the rendition,” he said.

“And UK courts have held in a plethora of cases that extraordinary rendition creates a barrier to the trial of a suspect.

“This was precisely the reason the United Kingdom had, in 1984, denied Nigeria’s formal application to extradite Umaru Dikko after his aborted extraordinary rendition from the UK. 

“In our humble view, Mr. Kanu’s is no different, except that his case bears more equities because he is a British national and Mr. Dikko was not.”

The lawyer added that Kanu “is gravely ill with three life-threatening conditions, namely a serious heart condition, hypertension and low potassium levels”. 

“All of these serious conditions demand specialist medical care and interventions that are not available at the facility where he is being detained or even in Nigeria as a whole,” the petition reads.

The lawyer also asked the UK government to promptly make demands on the Nigerian government for Kanu’s unconditional release and repatriation to the UK.

Should the federal government fail to “comply within a reasonable time”, Ejimakor wants the UK to “levy sanctions against the GON”.

In the alternative, Ejimakor is asking the UK to make binding proposals to Nigeria to conduct Kanu’s trial in the United Kingdom. 

“In addition to the fact that all the charges levelled against Mr. Kanu by the GON are alleged to have been committed by him from British soil, there are other legal reasons why Mr. Kanu should be tried in the UK rather than Nigeria,” he said.

He also asked that the trial be conducted in a “mutually agreed neutral third country (other than Nigeria and the UK), as was done in the Lockerbie trial of Libyan nationals”.