Nnamdi Kanu drags Nigeria before Ecowas court as his wife accuses UK of neglecting him

RADIO Biafra director Nnamdi Kanu has dragged Nigeria before the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) court claiming that his continued incarceration is a breach of the United Nations Charter on Human Rights among other things.

 

Arrested by security men in Lagos last October, Mr Kanu is facing treason charges in the Abuja high court. His legal team, led by Barrister Ifeanyi Ejiofor have now decided to challenged his continuation incarceration in a suit numbered ECW/CCJ/APP/06/16 claiming that the detention violates Articles 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 14, and 20 of the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights.

 

They also claim that the incarceration violates Articles 1, 2, 3, 6, 9, 10, 12, 22 and 26 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; Articles 2, 3, 5, 7, 9, 12, 13, 17, 20, 21 and 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; Article 22 Paragraph 1, of the Covenant of the League of Nations; as well as Resolution 2625 (Xxv) of the United Nations Charter of 1970. In addition, the suit claims the continued detention of Mr Kanu breaches rulings of courts of competent jurisdiction and orders made directing the defendants to release their client, which were flagrantly disobeyed.

 

Meanwhile, Mr Kanu's wife Uchechi Okwu-Kanu, has slammed the British government for abandoning him, accusing London of evading responsibility for ensuring her husband’s human rights are not violated.  Her husband is currently facing trial for treasonable felony, criminal conspiracy and belonging to unlawful society and could be jailed for life if found guilty of treasonable felony.

 

Mrs Kanu said: “It is for the British government to get involved, to make sure that this person’s human rights are being respected and they haven’t done that. They’ve been to see my husband but that is not where it ends.

 

“His human rights have been violated and international human rights bodies should be all over the place because he is also human. From my perspective, the British government are evading some responsibility."

 

On January 4, she gave birth to the couple’s first child and claimed that the stress of her husband’s detention in Nigeria almost made her have a miscarriage. According Mrs Kanu said the stress that was triggered by her husband’s detention caused her to go into early contractions in November 2015.

 

"They should be doing more, they should visit him more. It’s obvious and apparent that the Nigerian government and the Department of State Security is not obeying the law.

 

 “I managed to get an ambulance and got the whole thing under control. I was kept under care, watched for two or three days before I left the hospital,” Mrs Kanu added.