While Nnamdi Kanu is being prosecuted at home, his influence has just opened a door for a Nigerian woman in faraway United Kingdom.
The 49-year-old woman (unnamed) had applied for asylum in UK eight times. Those eight times she was denied the right to stay there. When she joined the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) her application was approved very quickly.
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She came to UK in 2011 and joined IPOB in 2017. Years ago, Nigeria labelled IPOB as a terrorist organisation; security agents have since enforced brutal crackdown on the group’s members or anyone suspected to be a member. But UK does not even associate the group with terrorism.
In her ruling, the UK upper tribunal judge, Gemma Loughran, said the woman has “well-founded fear of persecution” in her home country, Nigeria, overriding previous decisions by a lower tribunal judge.
Loughran’s ruling also highlighted how bad Nigeria’s institutions could be. She described activities of the nation’s security services as “arbitrary”. The woman would be in danger if UK did not accept her into asylum, the judge added.
“It is clear from the country background evidence that the security services act arbitrarily and arrest, harm and detain those it believes may be involved with IPOB without conducting an assessment of the extent of their involvement or their motivation,” the judge said.
Nnamdi Kanu, IPOB leader’s trial in Nigeria
Leader of IPOB Nnamdi Kanu, who also holds the UK citizenship, has been facing trial in Nigeria since 2015. Ten years later, the matter has dragged on with no end in sight.
After troop of Nigeria Army invaded his home in Abia, Kanu disappeared out of Nigeria but he was rearrested in Kenya in 2021 by Nigeria authorities. International community has condemned the Nigeria’s security agents rearrested Nnamdi Kanu, with many describing it as “kidnapping”.
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