Kanu, who is also the
Director of Radio Biafra, registered under the regulatory laws of the United
Kingdom and the United Nations, demanded $800 million in compensation.
The ECOWAS Court of Justice
has dismissed a suit brought by the leader of the Indigenous
People of Biafra
(IPOB), Mr. Nnamdi Kanu, alleging torture, assault, inhuman treatment and the
violation of his property rights by the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Delivering judgment on
Wednesday, Justice Dupe Atoki, leading a three-man panel, held that Kanu had
failed to prove the claims and dismissed the request for compensation.
The judge also ruled that
Nnamdi Kanu’s arrest and detention were not unlawful and arbitrary as claimed
by the Plaintiff.
While the Court
acknowledged that Mr. Kanu had the legal capacity to approach the Court for the
alleged violation of his human rights, it adjudged that without a mandate, he
lacked the legal personality to represent the IPOB before the Court.
On the issue of proper
parties before the Court, the names of the second and third defendants (Attorney
General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, and Director General, State
Security Service) who are not signatories to the ECOWAS Revised Treaty, were
struck out of the suit as improper parties, leaving the 1st defendant, the
Federal Republic of Nigeria as the sole defendant in the case.
Kanu’s lawyer, Mr. Ifeanyi
Ejiofor, filed the case before the Court on 3rd March 2016.
Kanu claimed that his
rights to life, personal integrity, privacy, fair trial, freedom of movement,
freedom of expression, personal liberty, freedom of association, private
property, right to existence and right to self-determination were violated
following his arrest and detention by agents of Nigeria.
He also alleged that he was
a victim of arbitrary arrest, detention, torture inhuman and degrading
treatment while in detention and that his personal belongings were confiscated
by the defendant through its agent.
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