Fugitive Nnamdi Kanu has been wanted since 2015 when he was charged with terrorism and incitement
ABUJA, June 30 (NNN-Agencies) — The fugitive leader of a prominent Biafra secessionist group has been arrested and extradited to Nigeria to face trial, in a move likely to inflame separatist unrest in south-east Nigeria.
Nnamdi Kanu, a British national who has lived in south London, had been wanted by Nigerian authorities since 2015, when he was charged with terrorism offences and incitement, after broadcasts aired on Radio Biafra, a digital station he founded and ran from his home in Peckham, England.
Nigeria’s Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami announced Kanu’s arrest during a press briefing in Abuja.
He said that Nnamdi Kanu was apprehended on Sunday, June 27 in the United Kingdom where he is a citizen.
According to him, Kanu will be arraigned before the Federal High Court.
The circumstances surrounding the arrest is yet to be known even though Abuja had called on the UK government to help arrest Kanu in the past.
In 2018, an Abuja court upheld an earlier ruling that allowed government to declare the pro-secessionist group, IPOB, as a terrorist group.
IPOB is based in Nigeria’s southeast and has been pushing for secession following a similar independence struggle that happened decades ago.
Kanu left Nigeria in September 2017 after his followers clashed with the Nigerian Army in his hometown of Umuahia in Abia State. — NNN-AGENCIES
