Lord Alton of Liverpool, a member of the British House of Lords has posed three questions he’s seeking answers from the British Government with regards to the “interception” of the leader of Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu and his subsequent return to Nigeria.
The British government had clarified that Nnamdi Kanu, who was travelling with a British passport, was not arrested within its shores as controversies trailed the circumstances and where the separatist leader was repatriated from.
IPOB had accused the Buhari administration of abducting its leader in an East African country, a claim confirmed by Mr Kanu’s attorney, Ifeanyi Ejiofor, who accused Kenya’s special police force of arresting, detaining and torturing him before he was later handed over to the Nigerian government.
Meanwhile, Kenya High Commissioner to Nigeria, Wilfred Machage, had refuted claims that Mr Kanu was arrested in the country, stating that it was not involved in the whole process.
Mr Machage described the claims as “deliberately concocted to fuel antagonistic feelings in the minds of certain sections of the Nigerian people against the people of Kenya.”
But Lord Alton of Liverpool in Question HL1665: tabled on 5 July 2021 and due for answer by 19 July 2021 is seeking the following answers:
“To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of (1) the alleged role of the government of Kenya in the detention and alleged mistreatment of Nigerian activist Nnamadi Kanu, (2) the circumstances surrounding the transfer of Mr Kanu to Nigeria against his will, and (3) of any assistance being provided to him by the High Commission in Abuja.
Mr Kanu, who’s also a British national was re-arrested by the Nigerian government last week and faces an ammended 11-count charge of treason, treasonable felony, terrorism and illegal possession of firearms, among others.
