Kenya has finally spoken out on the deportation of Nigerian Biafra leader Nnamdi Kanu from the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) on Saturday, June 26.
On Thursday this week, K24 Digital exclusively reported that Kanu was stopped at the airport as he jetted from Israel and was detained for almost 12 hours before being handed over to Nigeria. It is worth noting that Kanu had travelled from Germany to Israel.
However, in a turn-out of events, Wilfred Machage who is Kenya’s High Commissioner to Nigeria denied that the country was involved in the arrest and final deportation of the secessionist leader.
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Kanu is the leader of the Nigerian separatist organization Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and was detained within the JKIA premises as he tried to access the country.
At first, he was informed that he was nabbed due to a minor issue which later escalated and saw him deported to his native home.
“The allegations were fictional, imaginary, and deliberately concocted to fuel antagonistic feelings among certain sections of Nigerian people,” said Machage.
His sentiments are contrary to a statement released early last week by Abubakar Malani who is the Nigeria’s Minister of Justice who thanked the Kenyan Government for aiding the Western Africa country arrest Kanu.
But in a turnout of events, Kanu’s lawyer Ifeanyi Ejiofor said that his client was apprehended and tortured before he was handed over to Nigerian Security agents.
Ejiofor said that the assault was conducted by Kenya’s Special Police Force within the premises of JKIA which is the busiest Airport in East and Central Africa.
However, mid this week, a source privy to the matter who spoke in confidence to K24 Digital as they are not authorised to speak to the media said he was captured and assured of freedom but this was never to be.
Kanu, a Nigerian fugitive has been wanted by the Nigerian authorities after he in 2017 jumped bail.
He runs a radio station from London called Radio Biafra and is accused of leading the group which is labeled as a terrorist group in Nigeria.
The group has been demanding that the Eastern Region of Nigeria is allowed to be a country by itself.
Kanu was first arrested in 2015 in Nigeria and faced 11 accounts which included; terror links, illegal possession of firearms, improper importation of goods, defamatory statement, and publications amongst others.
In his first arrest, serious demonstrations were witnessed in the Eastern Part of Nigeria as they demanded that he is released.
Kanu’s lawyers are contemplating whether they should head to the International Criminal Court (ICC) over the incident accusing Kenya of illegally deporting Kanu to Nigeria.
“Kenya did not follow the due process when they arrested Kanu and handed him over to Nigeria. Kanu was in Kenya as a British national and not Nigerian since he was using a British passport,” said the lawyer.
