The leader of a group demanding the secession of parts of southeastern Nigeria previously known as Biafra has been arrested and is being held in the capital Abuja to face trials, the Justice Minister said on Tuesday.
Nnamdi Kanu showed up in court and his case was suspended until July 27, a representative said.
Attorney General and Minister of Justice Abubakar Malami told state news channel NTA that Kanu was confined on June 27 and “brought back” to Nigeria, yet he didn’t say from where.
“He has been arrested through the collective efforts of the Nigerian intelligence and security services,” Malami said.
Eric Ikhilae, a reporter with the Nation Newspaper, said he saw a hooded Kanu brought into the court by security agents.
Kanu heads the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB), which the Nigerian military has marked a terrorist organization. An IPOB representative said he couldn’t confirm the arrest.
IPOB leaders have demanded the secession of the southeastern region which attempted to secede from Nigeria in 1967 under the name of Republic of Biafra, setting off a three-year common conflict in which over 1,000,000 individuals died, mainly from starvation.
Kanu went through two years in prison battling charges of criminal conspiracy and belonging to an illegal association, however vanished after he was granted bail in April 2017.
From that point forward, Kanu’s whereabouts have been muddled, however the government has blamed his social media posts for rising viciousness and a spate of assaults across southeastern Nigeria. Information minister Lai Mohammed referred to Kanu’s posts as a factor in the government’s decision to suspend Twitter recently.
The platform additionally deleted a post by President Muhammadu Buhari threatening punishment for IPOB.
In May, police launched an activity in southeast Nigeria to control the increasing savagery and wrongdoing, setting off feelings of trepidation of a re-visitation of war.
