Aloy Ejimakor, the Special Counsel to Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has given an account of how his clien
Aloy Ejimakor, the Special Counsel to Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has given an account of how his client was arrested at the Jomo Kenyatta Airport in Nairobi, Kenya.
He narrated how seven men grabbed Kanu at the airport and chained him for eight days before he was brought back to Nigeria on Sunday, June 27, 2021.
Speaking in an interview with BBC Pidgin on Thursday, Barr Ejimakoe feared that Kanu is traumatized mentally.
Ejimakor, in the 11 minutes interview said he visited Kanu at the Department of State Services (DSS) office on Wednesday, July 14, adding that the IPOB Leader narrated to him how security forces arrested him in Kenya before being brought back to Nigeria.
“I saw him yesterday for almost three hours at the Headquarters of DSS in Abuja. We engaged in a private interaction initially, and later three DSS officers interviewed him in my presence. They asked him questions, most of the questions centered on his being the leader of IPOB and the group’s activities,” Ejimakor said.
The legal practitioner said he noticed something was amiss. According to him, Kanu speaks like a historian but from their conversation, the IPOB leader found it difficult to remember some dates.
“His state of mind is not as sound as it ought to be. While conversing with him, it was a bit difficult for him remembering the actual date they abducted him, I was surprised. He appeared like someone who has been mentally traumatized. Although he was not afraid, he was traumatized.
“I also noticed that he has sustained an injury in his right wrist. I asked the cause, He said it was where they used a chain to tie him to a concrete floor in Nairobi, Kenya. There is an injury mark on his neck side too,” Kanu’s special counsel stated.
Speaking on how he was arrested, Ejimakor said his client informed him that he was seized at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, noting that he was grabbed by seven men.
Ejimakor said, “Nnamdi Kanu entered Kenya around April this year, I am not sure of the exact date, but I have documents showing a Kenyan hospital attended to him on the 14th of May. He went there because he has issues with his heart. They said he has hypertension and a heart murmur.
“He had settled somewhere in Nairobi where he entered with his passport, I have the bio-data page of his passport that has an immigration stamp showing Kanu was admitted before the extraordinary rendition.”
Ejimakor said Kanu was arrested on June 19, 2021, saying, “He drove to Jomo Kenyatta Airport, to the underground garage, to pick up one visitor who flew into the country. That was where a group of seven men attacked him. They grabbed him and took him to one private facility where he was blindfolded, chained, and tortured for most of the eight days that he was there.
“On the 27th of June, he (Kanu) said he was driven, blindfolded, to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport and bundled inside a private jet. He was the sole passenger inside the jet, no immigration clearance.
“They drove him straight atop the tarmac to a place close to the plane. They put him inside the plane with Nigerian security officials on board and the plane left around 12 noon. It landed in Nigeria same day around 4 or 5pm.”
Meanwhile, the Kenyan government has denied their involvement in the arrest and extradition of Kanu.
It will also be recalled that when the Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, announced that Nnamdi had been brought back to Nigeria to continue his trial on treasonable felony, he was silent on where and how the arrest took place.
