The leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, has spoken for the first time since he was arrested abroad and brought back to Nigeria weeks ago to face trial.
Kanu’s lawyer, Aloy Ejimakor, who was allowed to meet with him inside the DSS detention facility on Wednesday in Abuja, said he spoke with the IPOB leader for about three hours.
Ejimakor told newsmen on Thursday morning that “The people that abducted him said that they were told by their sponsors that Kanu was a Nigerian terrorist linked to the Islamic terrorists in Kenya, presumably Al-Shabab.
“But after several days when they discovered his true identity, they tended to treat him less badly. Despite that, they told him they felt committed to hand him over to those that hired them.”
Al-Shabab is a jihadist group based in East Africa and Yemen, known for carrying out deadly attacks in Kenya for decades.
Ejimakor also disclosed that Kanu said he had been subjected to mental and psychological torture in DSS custody and that the pro-Biafra leader has appealed to a federal high court in Abuja to transfer him to Kuje Prison.
Kanu said he was held incommunicado and chained to a bare floor for eight days in a nondescript private facility in Kenya.
According to the IPOB leader, the Nigerian government must have contracted a third party, probably outside the knowledge and involvement of the Kenyan government, for his arrest.
His lawyer explained that, “Kanu was in point of fact tortured and subjected to untold cruel and inhuman treatment in Kenya. He said his abductors disclosed to him that they abducted him at the behest of Nigerian government.
“He was blindfolded and driven to the tarmac very close to the plane without passing through the airport immigration. The plane departed Nairobi at about 12 p.m. and arrived Abuja in the evening.
“Kanu was flown to Abuja in the private jet on Sunday 27th June, 2021 from Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, Nairobi and that he was the lone passenger.
“The interview was revealing as it contained certain new allegations that were never heard of before. But all the questions relate directly or indirectly to his status as the leader of IPOB.
“I observed that despite what he has passed through, he was in high spirits and looked forward to overcoming the extraordinary rendition that brought him to Nigeria.
“In my assessment of how the case now stands, I wager that before any court can subject Kanu to trial for any offenses, it has to first conduct a trial within trial on the grievous incident that forced him to leave Nigeria and the equally grievous incident that forced him back to Nigeria.
“No court of law, conscience and equity will overlook those two supervening incidents and proceed to trial.”
