British High Commission says the leader of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu was not arrested in the UK.
Gatekeepers News reports that British High Commission has confirmed that the leader of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu was not picked at his base in the UK.
A spokesperson of the British High Commission, Dean Hurlock, confirmed this on Tuesday.
Kanu who is also a UK citizen had been in the UK since 2017 when he fled Nigeria.
Earlier on Tuesday, Gatekeepers News reported that the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami, disclosed that the IPOB leader was arrested on Sunday due to “the collaborative efforts of Nigerian intelligence and security services”.
Although Malami did not specify where the secessionist leader was picked up, Hurlock has confirmed Kanu was arrested outside of the UK.
Hurlock said, “We can confirm that Nnamdi Kanu was not arrested in the UK for extradition purposes.”
The IPOB leader was first arrested on October 14, 2015, after years of his campaign for the sovereign state of Biafra.
In April 2017, Kanu was granted bail and he fled Nigeria the same year after soldiers invaded his residence in Abia state during a military clampdown on IPOB members.
Since then, it has been difficult for the Nigerian government to re-arrest him as he is a citizen of the UK.
While in the UK, Kanu organised a militant arm of IPOB whose aim, according to IPOB Spokesman, Emma Powerful is to “halt every criminal activity and terrorist attack on Biafraland.”
The emergence of the security outfit has since coincided with a spike in violent attacks in the southeastern region of Nigeria, with security agents mostly targeted.
IPOB has, however, never taken responsibility for any of the attacks.
