October 26, (THEWILL) – The Federal High Court sitting in Umuahia, Abia state, has ordered the Federal Government to pay N500 million to detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, and return him to Kenya, from where he was extradited.
Justice E . N Anyadike, who presided over the case, stated that the extradition of Kanu from Kenya without recourse to the legal process was a flagrant abuse of his fundamental human rights and ordered his return.
According to him, the Federal Government failed to disprove the claims of the applicant that he was arrested, blindfolded, tortured, and chained to the ground for eight days in Kenya before his extradition to Nigeria.
The judgement was passed in a fundamental rights suit filed by one of the IPOB lawyers, Alloy Ejimakor.
“Mazi Nnamdi Kanu WINS at Federal High Court, Umuahia. The court ruled that the Extraordinary Rendition is a violation of his fundamental rights.
“All 7 prayers sought from the court granted, including restoring him to his state of being as of 19th June, 2021 & halting his prosecution”, Ejimakor tweeted on Wednesday.
The federal government has not revealed the country where it arrested Kanu, but the IPOB lawyers and judgements of the Court of Appeal had said the extradition was done in Kenya.
Kanu was recently discharged by the Court of Appeal on all terrorism-related charges in a case that has lasted for over four years.
The Federal Government has approached the appellate court for a stay of execution and the ruling has been reserved for a later day.
But Nnamdi Kanu had also filed a Fundamental Right Action before the Federal High Court Abuja, through his lawyers, Mike Ozehkome (SAN) and Ifeanyi Ejiofor.
They are demanding his immediate release from the facility of the Department of State Services (DSS) in line with the existing court of appeal judgement and payment of the sum of NGN100 Billion (One Hundred Billion Naira) as reparation for the gross violation of his Rights to Liberty and Dignity of Human Persons.
