The genesis of my odyssey of injustice – Nnamdi Kanu
By Steve Oko
Leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPoB, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, has chronicled the genesis of what he called his “odyssey of injustice”, tracing it to his abduction and extraordinary rendition from Kenya in 2021.
Kanu who is currently incarcerated at the Sokoto prison, made this available to Wawa News Global through his brother, Prince Emmanuel Kanu, who visited him on Wednesday.
The IPoB leader said he was unfairly prosecuted and strangely convicted in clear breach of various sections of both the Nigeria Constitution and International laws.
Kanu wondered how Justice James Omotosho decided to convict him despite the preponderance of laws and court precedents in his favour.
He noted that several courts including the Court of Appeal, had earlier discharged and acquitted him of all counts of charge against him, yet Justice Omotosho ignored them and went ahead to convict him.
Citing some of his arguments in his defense, Kanu said:”My odyssey of injustice commenced with his unlawful rendition from Nairobi, Kenya on the 19th day of June 2021, a covert operation of abduction, incommunicado, detention, torture, and forcible transfer to Nigeria without extradition proceedings or judicial oversight.
“This rendition has been unequivocally condemned by multiple authoritative bodies – the Federal High Court, Umuahia, the Honourable Justice Evelyn Anyadike in Nnamdi Kano v. Federal Republic of Nigeria, suit number FHC/UM/CS/412/2022 delivered on the 26th day of October 2022, which declared it a gross violation of the applicant’s rights under sections 35 and 36 of the constitution and ordered his return to Kenya with N500 million in damages.”
The IPoB leader recalled that he got a favourable judgment at the Kenya High Court in Nairobi, over his abduction and extraordinary rendition.
“The High Court of Kenya at Nairobi per Honourable Justice E.C. Mwita in Nwannekaenyi Nnamdi Okwu Kanu v. Attorney General of Kenya, petition number E123 of 2024 delivered on the 24th day of June 2025, which held the abduction, solitary confinement, torture, and denial of basic necessities as unconstitutional violations under the Kenyan constitution of 2010, awarding KSHS 10,000, approximately N120 million in general damages against the Kenyan government for its complicity.”
He also noted that Justice Omotosho ignored the opinion of the United Nations Human Rights Council Working Group, which had earlier recommended his immediate and unconditional release.
“The United Nations Human Rights Council Working Group on Arbitrary Detention UNWGAD in opinion number 25/2022 adopted on the 4th day of April 2022, which categorised the detention as arbitrary under categories 1 and 2, deemed the rendition extraordinarily in breach of articles 3 and 9 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights UDHR, article 9 of the ICCPR, and principles 2, 4, and 10 of the Body of Principles for the Protection of Persons Under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment, and recommended immediate release, compensation, and investigation of perpetrators and communications from the UN Special Rapporteurs, including on torture, arbitrary detention, and forced disappearances, health monitoring, health minorities, and counterterrorism in ALNGA 5/2020, October 2020, and subsequent mandates October 2021, expressing grave concern over the enforced disappearance from June 19-29, 2021, illegal rendition without judicial process, torture, and ill-treatment urging Nigeria to provide explanations, cease violations, and ensure compliance with international obligations.
“Compounding this primordial illegality on the 24th day of June 2021, before Hon. Justice Binta Nyako, I was arraigned without access to counsel of his choice, a flagrant breach of Section 36(6c) of the Constitution”, Kanu fumed.
Continuing, he said:”This denial set the stage for a cascade of nullities culminating in the Supreme Court’s remittal of this matter on the 15th day of December 2023, despite my discharge and acquittal by the Court of Appeal on the 13th day of October 2022.
” In Appeal No. CA/ABJ/CR/625/2022, we submit with utmost difference that this remittal is a constitutional sacrilege, void ab initio for offending the supremacy of the Constitution, and the doctrine of autrefola acquit”.
Kanu’s conviction has been greeted by a growing national and international condemnation.
Less than 24 hours after Justice Omotosho slammed life imprisonment on him, a United States Congressman, Rep John James, described his conviction as a proof of religious persecution in Nigeria .
Rep. James was the former Chairman of the Africa Subcommittee and now a member of the Energy and Commerce Committee.
While the IPoB leader has vowed to seek redress at the court of appeal, stakeholders have called for political solution to resolve the debacle.
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