Bruce Fein, the international counsel and spokesman for the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu has petitioned the United Nations Security Council over the treatment of his client.
The petition dated April 9, 2022, and jointly signed by Fein and the wife of the IPOB leader, Uche Kanu, is asking the UN Security Council to investigate the complicity of the Nigerian and Kenyan governments in the abduction, torture and rendition of Kanu from Kenya in June 2021.
Kanu was renditioned to Nigeria from Kenya last June under questionable circumstances. Since his arrival, he has been detained by the Department of State Services (DSS), the secret police of Africa’s most populous nation.
Addressed to Honorable Barbara Woodward, UK Ambassador to the United Nations and President of the UN Security Council, the letter is titled, “Petition to the United Nations Security Council to establish an independent Commission to investigate the complicity of Nigerian and Kenyan government officials or their agents in the criminal kidnapping, torture, extraordinary rendition, and indefinite arbitrary detention of United Kingdom citizen Nnamdi Kanu from Nairobi to Abuja and for the establishment of a Special Tribunal outside either Nigeria or Kenya to prosecute the suspects identified by the Commission.”
It reads, “We, the undersigned respectfully petition the United Nations Security Council, acting under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter, to pass a resolution establishing an international independent investigation Commission to establish criminal responsibility for Nnamdi Kanu’s kidnapping, torture, and extraordinary rendition from Nairobi, Kenya to Abuja, Nigeria on or about June 2021, and indefinite, ongoing, arbitrary detention in solitary confinement thereafter by the Federal Government of Nigeria. The resolution should also establish a Special Tribunal to prosecute persons the Commission finds have been responsible for Nnamdi Kanu’s kidnapping, torture, extraordinary rendition, and arbitrary detention.
“Convincing evidence in the public domain, direct and circumstantial, implicate Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, Nigerian Attorney General Abubakar Malami, and Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, among others, in the above-referenced crimes against Nnamdi Kanu.
“The governments of Nigeria and Kenya cannot be trusted to investigate or prosecute themselves. The universal legal principle that a person cannot be a judge in his own case applies here.
“We submit that Security Council Resolution 1595, which established an independent Commission to investigate the assassins of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Harari, and
Security Council Resolution 1757, which established a Special Tribunal for the prosecution of the responsible parties found by the independent Commission, should be considered as templates for the corresponding resolutions we are requesting for investigation and prosecution of the crimes against Nnamdi Kanu by Nigerian and Kenyan government officials or their agents.
“We would welcome the opportunity to meet with you or your staff in person or over the internet to further elaborate on this petition.”
Last Friday, a Federal High Court in Abuja struck out eight out of the amended 15 counts bordering on treasonable felony and other related charges filed against Kanu by the Nigerian government.
The judge, Binta Nyako struck out counts 6,7,9,10,11,12,13 and 14.
Kanu is now to stand trial on counts 1,2,3,4,5,8 and 15.
“In this instant preliminary objection application, I have read the counts and counts 6,7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 and 14 have not disclosed any offence,” the judge held.
“Count 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8 and 15 shows some allegations. The court shall proceed to try the defendant on those counts.”
Mike Ozekhome, Kanu’s lead counsel, described the charges as “defective and baseless”.
He said his application seeks the “quashing, striking out and dismissing of the 15-count amended charge” for being “incompetent and denying the court of jurisdiction to entertain the suit”.
“You are accusing Kanu of making some broadcast. You didn’t say where these broadcasts were made. Were they made in the spirit world, made in the air or under the ground?” Ozekhome asked.
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