Mr Kanu has been detained at the SSS facility since he was rearrested in July 2021.
Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), has requested the UK authorities to intervene in his trial and continued detention at the facility of the Nigeria's State Security Service (SSS).
Since his re-arrest in July 2021, Mr Kanu, a British-Nigerian citizen, has been detained at the SSS facility. He is facing terrorism trial at a Federal High Court, Abuja.
In a letter dated 18 January and addressed to the House of Commons, the lower chamber of the UK parliament, the IPOB leader appealed to the lawmakers to prevail on the UK Government to intervene in his matter in Nigeria.
Aloy Ejimakor, Mr Kanu's special counsel, who signed the letter, said he had the instruction of the IPOB leader to do so.
Mr Kanu, in the letter to the parliament, detailed how he was first arrested, his initial trial, and how he fled Nigeria after Nigerian security forces invaded his home town in Abia State, Nigeria's South-east.
Prayers
The IPOB leader, in the letter, presented some prayers which he pleaded with the parliament to consider for possible implementation.
"Urgently intervene in His Majesty's (UK) Government, strongly urging it to promptly make demands on the Government of Nigeria to unconditional release of Mr Kanu from detention and repatriate him to the United Kingdom and to levy sanctions against the Government of Nigeria if it fails to comply within a reasonable time," the letter read in part.
Mr Kanu argued in the letter that his extraordinary rendition to Nigeria from Kenya "inherently destroys every prospect for a fair trial in a jurisdiction that levied the rendition."
He cited previous court rulings in the UK to support his position.
The IPOB leader said, in the alternative, the parliament should "promptly intervene with His Majesty's Government, strongly urging it to make binding proposals to the Government of Nigeria to agree to conduct" his trial in the UK instead of Nigeria.
He argued that since charges preferred against him by the Nigerian government were alleged to have been committed by him in the UK, there are legal reasons for which he should be tried in the UK, rather than in Nigeria.
Mr Kanu mentioned his British-Nigerian citizenship, human rights concerns, existing Nigerian-British diplomatic considerations, security and safety, fair trial and prospect of political interference as some of the reasons for which he should be tried in the UK.
Mr Kanu said, if conducting his trial in UK will be impossible, the parliament may alternatively intervene with His Majesty's Government, urging it to make binding proposal to the Nigerian government to agree to conduct his trial in a "mutually agreed neutral third country, other than Nigeria and the UK, as was done in the Lockerbie trial of Libyan nationals."
Why the request for assistance
The letter said the decision to make the request to the parliament was propelled by "undue levity" with which the UK government has so far handled Mr Kanu's matter.
It said the IPOB leader believes that he "has not been accorded the full legal and diplomatic protections he is entitled to as a bonafide British subject."
The letter indicated that Mr Ejimakor, Mr Kanu's legal team in the UK, and the IPOB leader's US-based international counsel, Bruce Fein, are all available to "personally appear" before the parliament whenever it deems necessary in the course of considering the petition.
Background
Mr Kanu, the IPOB leader, was first arrested in 2015 under the administration of the then Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari.
The Court of Appeal, Abuja, on 13 October 2022, held that the IPOB leader was extra-ordinarily renditioned to Nigeria and that the action was a flagrant violation of the country's extradition treaty and also a breach of his fundamental human rights.
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The court, therefore, struck out the terrorism charges filed against Mr Kanu by the Nigerian government and ordered his release from the SSS facility.
But the government refused to release the IPOB leader, insisting that he (Kanu) could be unavailable in subsequent court proceedings if released and that his release would cause insecurity in the South-east, where he comes from.
The government, through the office of the Attorney-General of the Federation, later appealed the court ruling and subsequently obtained an order staying the execution of the court judgment at the Supreme Court.
Delivering judgment on the appeal on 15 December, the Supreme Court reversed the acquittal granted to Mr Kanu by the lower court and consequently ordered continuation of his trial at the Federal High Court Abuja.
