Finally, Kanu Talks Of His Ordeal In Kenya; Interviewed By DSS Before Special Counsel

By Charles Igbo

For the first time since he was brought back to Nigeria, and kept in the custody of the Directorate of Special Services, DSS, two things happened to Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra, IPOB.

His Special Counsel, Alloy Ejimakor, visited with him for about three hours. And for the first time, he was interviewed (interrogated) by the DSS, since he was kept in the custody of the Secret Police.

The interrogation, by three DSS officers, which took place before Ejimakor, was not harsh, but revealing. There were new allegations against him which he had never heard before. But they bordered, mainly, on his activities as IPOB leader.

Ejimakor said Kanu was in high spirits, and was looking forward to dealing with, and overcoming his forced trip to Nigeria. This observation might surprise many people, given the story of his ordeal in Kenya.

Snippets of the ordeal which he passed through in Kenya, before  he was brought back to Nigeria are gradually unfolding.

For instance, it has been confirmed that Kanu was brought back to Nigeria on a private jet on Sunday, 27th June, 2021. And even though he was blind-folded and driven to the foot of the jet to board, he knew he did not pass through any Security checks or immigration protocols. He was, also, the only passenger on board the jet, which took off from the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, Nairobi, at about 12.00noon, and arrived Abuja in the evening, into the waiting arms of an array of Security men.

On arrest in Kenya, he was taken to no jail. But where he was kept was a jail on its own. Kanu disclosed that he was kept in a nondescript private facility in Nairobi, and chained to a bare floor.

For the eight days he was detained in Kenya, he said he was held incommunicado,  and that those who arrested him had a different impression of him.

For instance, he disclosed that his abductors, who he alleges were harsh and cruel to him, said  they did so at the behest of the Nigerian Government, which is not surprising since a Nigerian Court had issued a warrant of arrest against him, and the Interpol had been notified.

They, also said to him that they were  told he was  a Nigerian,  linked to Islamic terrorists in Kenya.

Recall that in Kenya, the terrorist group which holds sway is the Al-Shabab.

According to the account, there was no warrant of arrest. If there was, none was shown to Kanu, and he was not taken to any Court in Kenya.

However, the harsh treatment given to him by those who arrested him was relaxed a little, he disclosed, when they confirmed his true identity.

The confirmation did not, in anyway, translate to releasing him, as they felt obliged to hand him over to the Nigerian authorities.

On what he expects Ejimakor said that in his “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 a 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.”

Kanu was facing trial in Nigeria at a Federal High Court before the Hon. Justice Binta Nyako for, among others, allegations bordering on treasonable felony. He, however, was forced to jump bail when Federal troops invaded his father’s Palace at Afara-ukwu, Umuahia, where he was. From that 2017, he was not seen in public, until he surfaced at a Synagogue in Israel in 2019.

He then went back to Britain, which citizen he is, from where he was pursuing, vigorously, an independent Republic of Biafra to be made up of Igbo speaking people.

In the struggle, IPOB cites injustice, inequality and marginalisation of the South-east as its driving motive to secede from Nigeria.

On Monday, 28th June, 2021, not a few Nigerians were suprised when Abubakar Salami, SAN, Attorney General of the Federation and Minister for Justice, announced that Kanu was ‘intercepted’ and brought back to Nigeria. It was a well- guarded operation as, for the eight days he was detained in Kenya, his arrest did not leak.

Not a few people think  President Muhammadu Buhari shelved his scheduled visit, on medical grounds, to the United Kingdom, once he was briefed of Kanu’s ‘interception’.

IPOB insists he was kidnapped, and holds the Kenyan Government responsible for it. It has since asked its members to  boycott Kenya Airlines and Kenyan products.

Kanu’s case before Justice Nyako comes up again on July 26, 2021. He appeared before the Court on June 28, a day after he was brought back to Nigeria.