The Kenyan government has dismissed claims that it played a major role in the capture of fugitive pro-secessionist leader, Nnamdi Kanu.
Kenyan authorities were linked to the arrest and eventual extradition of separatist leader Nnamdi Kanu back to Nigeria, saying it could not ascertain whether the act took place in Kenya.
Kenya’s denial deepens a diplomatic crisis, given that Nigerian authorities had indicated they seized the activist in London before extraditing him to Nigeria, a claim the British government has since denied. Mr Kanu’s family roped Kenya into the conflict when it sensationally claimed that the secessionist leader had been arrested in Kenya from where he was extradited to Nigeria.
Yesterday, the Director General of Immigration Services Alexander Muteshi dismissed the claims of Kenya’s complicity, arguing that it was not possible to tell whether Mr Kanu had entered Kenyan territory.
“I can’t know that,” Mr Muteshi disclosed when asked whether the claims made by the family were true.
“He was unlawfully arrested in Kenya, detained and subsequently subjected to extraordinary rendition from Kenya to Nigeria where he is now detained,” the family said, through Mr Kingsley Kanu, his brother.
Mr Kanu was arrested last Sunday by what sources say was a combined operation of Nigerian and foreign security officers. But the exact location of his arrest remains contentious.
The family’s claims, if true, casts Kenya once again in the eye of international focus so soon after similar claims were made over the abduction and eventual deportation of Selahaddin Gülen to Turkey. He is the nephew of US-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gulen, who is accused of organising a coup against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in 2016.
Kenya has a negative history of alleged complicity in similar incidents of abduction and deportation of asylum seekers that have taken place previously.
In their statement, the family claimed that Mr Kanu was on a visit to Kenya when he was arrested, detained and handed over to the Nigerian authorities who then flew him to Nigeria.
“My brother has been subjected to extraordinary rendition by Kenya and Nigeria. They two governments have violated the most basic principles of the rule of law,” Mr Kingsley said in remarks widely quoted in the Nigerian media.”Extraordinary rendition is one of the most serious crimes states can commit. Both Nigeria and Kenya must be held to account. I demand justice for my brother, Nnamdi Kanu.”
Mr Kanu is accused of engaging in subversive activities that include inciting violence through television, radio and online broadcasts against Nigeria and Nigerian State and institutions.
Kanu was also accused of instigating violence especially in the Southeastern Nigeria that resulted in the loss of lives and property of civilians, military, paramilitary, police forces and destruction of civil institutions and symbols of authority.
