The United Kingdom Parliament has stated that the Nigerian government has to explain the roles it played and the manner of the arrest of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, from Kenya.
The UK Minister of State for the Commonwealth, Lord Tariq Ahmad, demanded that the Nigerian government should explain to the British government how it repatriated the IPOB leader.
This followed a debate by the UK Parliament on July 7, during which British lawmakers discussed the UK government’s assessment of Kenya’s role in Kanu’s arrest.
Lord Alton of Liverpool raised the issue at the House of Lords, seeking to address the controversies surrounding the transfer of Kanu from Kenya to Nigeria against his will.
He also sought to know if there was any assistance provided to the embattled IPOB leader by the High Commission in Abuja.
A parliamentary schedule stated, “Lord Alton of Liverpool to ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of (1) the alleged role of the government of Kenya in the detention and alleged mistreatment of Nigerian activist Nnamdi Kanu, (2) the circumstances surrounding the transfer of Kanu to Nigeria against his will, and (3) of any assistance being provided to him by the High Commission in Abuja. HL1665.”
In response to the parliament’s debate, Ahmad said, “We are seeking clarification from the Nigerian Government about the circumstances of the arrest and detention of Nnamdi Kanu.”
Ahmad also confirmed claims by the British High Commission in Abuja that the UK government was providing consular assistance for the IPOB leader.
“The UK has requested consular access to Kanu from the Nigerian government, and we stand ready to provide consular assistance,” he maintained.
While the Buhari regime has refused to disclose how it repatriated the IPOB leader from Kenya, the UK government had clarified that Kanu travelling with a British passport was not arrested within its shores.
IPOB had also accused Kenya’s special police force of arresting, detaining, and torturing Kanu before the authorities handed him over to the Nigerian government.
But Kenya, through its high commissioner to Nigeria, Wilfred Machage, refuted the claim, stating that the East African Country was not involved in the whole process.
But findings by The Guardian, a UK newspaper, indicated that he was arrested in Kenya, as Kanu’s UK passport remains in Kenya.
He was said to have entered Kenya this year with his British passport on a visa expiring in June, the newspaper reported.
