Nnamdi Kanu files fresh lawsuit seeking $60m for his unlawful abduction in Kenya

INDIGENOUS People of Biafra (Ipob) leader Nnamdi Kanu has filed a fresh suit against the federal government at an Umuahia high court in Abia State seeking N25bn ($60.12m) in damages for the emotional trauma he suffered during his abduction from Kenya last year.

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. However, in a dramatic development in June last year, Mr Kanu was abducted in Kenya and flown to Nigeria, where he was handed over to the State Security Service.

Earlier today, in a fresh suit filed by his counsel Aloy Ejimakor, Mr Kanu argued that his extradition from Kenya was unconstitutional. He is demanding N25bn as damages for the physical, mental, emotional, psychological, property  loss he suffered during his extradition.

Mr Ejimakor said: "We seek a declaration that the arrest of the applicant in Kenya by the respondents’ agents without due process of law is arbitrary. Also, the respondents’ enforced disappearance of the applicant for eight days and their refusal to produce the him before a Kenyan court for the purpose of  extradition is illegal, unlawful, unconstitutional and amounts to infringement of the applicant’s fundamental rights.

"This is an arbitrary arrest and a breach of his personal liberty and denies him a fair hearing as enshrined and guaranteed under the pertinent provisions of  the of Nigerian constitution and the Human Rights Charter. We seek a declaration that the detention of the applicant in a non-official secret facility in Kenya and the torture by the respondents’ agents is illegal, unlawful, unconstitutional and amounts to infringement of fundamental rights.

He added that they are seeking that the court declares Mr Kanu's arrest in Kenya unlawful, illegal, unlawful and unconstitutional. Mr Ejimakor added they are also seeking to get the court to restore Mr Kanu's liberty by getting him repatriated to his country of lawful domicile the UK.