**Award Kanu N500m damages***
By Kamsi Anayo
Justice E. Anyadike of Federal High Court, Umuahia, Abia state, on Wednesday ordered the Federal Government to return Leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu to Kenya from where he was extradited to Nigeria in June 2021.
The court also ordered the government to pay Kanu the sum of N500 million as damages for his illegal abduction and violation of his fundamental human rights.
The court which denied the federal government’s second preliminary objection to its jurisdiction based on Res Judicata, (a matter already adjudicated upon by a competent), ruled that “Umuahia has the jurisdiction to hear and determine the suit”.
The court held that the Abia State High Court judgment of January 19, 2022 was specific to the 2017 military invasion of Kanu’s home, not the 2021 extraordinary rendition.
There was heavy presence of armed security operatives around the premises of Federal High Court Umuahia as the court delivered its verdict.
Kanu had through his Special Counsel, Barrister Aloy Ejimakor, sued the Federal Government, challenging his arrest and transfer from Kenya.
Ejimakor asked the Nigerian government to return his client to Kenya where he was arrested or the United Kingdom (UK), his country of abode.
The Court of Appeal in Abuja had on October 11, declared his extraordinary rendition illegal and dismissed the charges against him.
