Court orders Nigerian government to pay Nnamdi Kanu $2.4m for violating his human rights

INDIGENOUS People of Biafra (Ipob) leader Nnamdi Kanu has won a landmark legal case against the federal government after an Abia State high court order that he be paid N1bn ($2.4m) as compensation for the violation of his fundamental human rights.

Highly controversial, Mr Kanu has been campaigning for the recreation of the independent republic of Biafra which broke away from Nigeria between July 1967 and January 1970 during the civil war. His campaign, which has led to the phenomenal growth of Ipob, has set him at odds with the Nigerian government who him arrested and put on trial for treason.

While the case was still pending, Mr Kanu was granted bail in April 2017 on health grounds but skipped his bail after flouting the conditions given to him by the court and fled Nigeria. In a dramatic development, in June last year, Mr Kanu was abducted in Kenya and flown to Nigeria, where he has since been arrayed in court in Abuja, with fresh charges added to the pending ones.

Today, judgement was delivered in a case in which Mr Kanu sued the government in which the Ipob leader emerged victorious. In its ruling, the court also ordered the government to issue a letter of apology to the secessionist leader for violating his fundamental human rights.

Aloy Ejimakor,  Mr Kanu’s lawyer, said: “Mazi Nnamdi Kanu wins as Abia high court rules that the federal government violated his fundamental rights and orders the payment of N1bn to him. Most importantly, the court recommended a political solution to the Biafran agitation.”

Justice Ben Anya rejected the Nigerian government’s challenge of its jurisdiction to hear Mr Kanu’s fundamental rights suit. In the suit, Mr Ejimakor had urged the court to declare the invasion of Mr Kanu's residence in Abia State in 2017 as unlawful and an infringement of his constitutional rights.

Mr Ejimakor also urged the court to declare Mr Kanu's arrest and torture in Kenya last year as unlawful. His suit further sought the court to stop the Nigerian government from prosecuting Mr Kanu, mandating it to release the Ipob leader and tender an apology to him, among other things.