The government of Kenya has refuted claims of its involvement in the arrest and extradition of Nigerian separatist leader Nnamdi Kanu to Nigeria.
This is as controversies continue to trail the circumstances surrounding the capture and return of Mr Kanu back to Nigeria.
Nigeria’s attorney general Abubakar Malami had announced that “the Nigerian government has successfully arrested and brought back Nnamdi Kanu to Nigeria through the help of Nigerian intelligence agency,” without categorically stating the country Mr Kanu was arrested.
Some reports had claimed he was arrested in the United Kingdom, while several others alleged that it was in Ethiopia, Rwanda, Czech Republic, and Israel. IPOB hierarchy however claimed he was arrested in an East African country.
“The Directorate of State of the Indigenous People of Biafra wish to inform the IPOB families worldwide of the abduction of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) by the Nigerian government working in evil alliance with an East African Country. We shall make the name of this country public in due course,” a statement by Chika Edoziem, IPOB’s head of directorate said.
But Kenya High Commissioner to Nigeria, Wilfred Machage, who spoke in Abuja on Friday, said the East African country was not involved in the arrest.
“I want to address this allegation by denying that Kenya was not involved in the alleged arrest in Kenya and extradition to Nigeria of Mr Kanu.”
Stating that many countries have been dragged into the matter, he described claims of Kenya’s involvement as “deliberately concocted to fuel antagonistic feelings in minds of certain sections of the Nigerian people against the people of Kenya.”
He noted that it is only the Buhari regime that can categorically state where Mr Kanu was arrested.
“I want to challenge anyone with the facts relating to this alleged arrest in Kenya to present these facts, and that includes how and who was particularly involved in the alleged arrest,” he further said.
On Tuesday, the British government said the separatist leader was not arrested in the UK.
The IPOB leader was arraigned at the Federal High Court, Abuja, where the court ordered that he be remanded until the continuation of his trial set for July 26.