Kenya Court Declares Kanu’s Extraordinary Rendition Illegal

Emmanuel Ugwu-Nwogo in Umuahia

It has emerged that the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, has successfully challenged his extraordinary rendition in Kenya with the  country’s high court declaring it as “unconstitutional and illegal”.
In the certified true copy of the judgement delivered on June 24, 2025 in case No. HCCHRPET/E359/2021, made available to our correspondent, the Nairobi Milimani Law Courts (Constitutional and Human Rights Division), presided over by Justice E.C. Mwati, also awarded 10 million Kenya Shillings (N121.9 million) in general damages to Kanu. The Attorney General was further  ordered to pay the cost of petition and interest.
The case was instituted on behalf of the IPOB leader by his brother Kingsley against the office of Kenya Attorney General and Cabinet Secretary Interior and Coordination of National Government challenging the legality of the IPOB leader’s extraordinary rendition in June 2021.
Other respondents in the case include Director of Immigration, Director of Criminal Investigations, Officer Commanding Police Division, Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, and the Attorney General.
Relying on the laws and Constitution of Kenya 2010, the court declared that “the abduction of Kanu, holding him in incommunicado confinement, torturing him and denying him food, water, medication and other basic necessities was a violation of his rights and fundamental freedoms.”
It also declared that Kanu’s “abduction and subsequent forcible removal from Kenya to Nigeria was in violation of the laws of Kenya; his rights and fundamental freedoms, including freedom of movement and security of the person guaranteed by the Constitution of Kenya, 2010” were unconstitutional
The respondents had argued in their defence that “the petition is premised on hearsay  because there is no evidence to show that Mr. Nnamdi Kanu was declared a prohibited immigrant under section 33 of the Kenya Citizenship and Immigration Act 2011, or that a deportation order was issued under section 43 of the Act.”
They also stated that the petitioner had failed to demonstrate that it was (Kenyan) police officers who arrested Nnamdi Kanu or that he was in custody of the Kenya authority thus, the petition does not raise a cause of action against the respondents.
However, Justice Mwati was not convinced as he insisted that “the government of Kenya violated the Constitution and Mr. Nnamdi Kanu’s rights and fundamental freedoms.”

“Having entered Kenya lawfully he (Kanu) was subject to the protection offered by the Constitution of Kenya 2010 and the government of Kenya had an obligation to uphold and protect his rights and fundamental freedoms,” he said.

Reacting to the verdict from Kenya, IPOB described it as “crushing blow to Nigeria’s lies and international lawlessness”, adding that  it was “a resounding judicial earthquake that has shaken the legal foundations of the fraudulent rendition of our leader.”

“This judgement vindicates our consistent position that what transpired in Nairobi in June 2021 was not extradition but extraordinary rendition – a criminal act of state-sponsored international terrorism involving the highest authorities of the Nigerian and Kenyan governments,” the group said.

In the statement signed by its spokesperson, Emma Powerful, IPOB stated that with the Kenya Court judgement “the world must acknowledge that Mazi Nnamdi Kanu did not commit any crime in Kenya. He entered Kenya lawfully as a British citizen.”

“He was abducted in broad daylight at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport by agents of Nigeria’s secret police in collusion with rogue elements of the Kenyan security apparatus.

“He was chained, tortured, denied medication, and eventually bundled onto a private jet and flown illegally to Abuja without any extradition hearing or judicial warrant,” the Biafra group said.

IPOB expressed its gratitude “beyond measure to the brilliant legal leadership of Professor PLO Lumumba, lead counsel in the Kenyan litigation,” saying that his “courage, clarity, and tenacity led to this monumental legal victory”.

The group also “extends heartfelt appreciation to the Kenyan judiciary, especially Hon. Justice E.C. Mwita, who stood tall against ferocious political interference and international diplomatic pressure to deliver a fearless judgement grounded in law, morality, and constitutional justice.”

However, IPOB noted that Kanu’s court victory in Kenya “is not the end” but “the beginning of a global accountability campaign”.

According to the group, “all those responsible – in Kenya, Nigeria, or elsewhere – shall be pursued to the ends of the earth under the universal principle of accountability for crimes against humanity.”

“Neither British diplomatic complicity nor cowardly silence from Western powers will shield the perpetrators from the legal, diplomatic, and moral reckoning that is coming,” IPOB declared.