DIFFERENT REPORTS ON HOW NNAMDI KANU WAS ARRESTED BY THE INTERPOL

First report says he was lured with cash donation and got arrested.

Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), was lured to a location in an African country with a promise of cash donation in millions of dollars.

Security sources informed us that the operation to rearrest and put him back on trial had been "ongoing for a while" until success was recorded. on Sunday, June 27.

The Nigerian government has not named the country where Kanu was arrested, with Ababakar Malami, the attorney-general of the federation, just saying he was "intercepted" and extradited to Nigeria.

We also gathered that Kanu was tracked through some members of IPOB who were recently arrested following a massive military operation in the south-east.

The security agencies worked through the links to give the IPOB Leader the impression that he was going to be given some "millions of dollars" in cash donations to the organisation.

He was said to have decided to collect the money "because of the  huge amount involved."

Kanu even kept his associates in the dark about his mission, according to the security sources who said the top hierarchy did not know his whereabouts on the day he was arrested.

On arriving at the location where he was to collect the donation, he was arrested by that country's security agencies and Interpol, and his extradition was expedited, the source said. This has brought an end to the long-running episode since he left Nigeria while on bail, His trial is expected to resume on July 26.

 

In Other Report

How Interpol arrested Nnamdi Kanu while seeking countries' support for Biafra

The Leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, was apprehended by the International Criminal Police while seeking foreign support for the actualisation of the Republic of Biafra

The PUNCH gathered that Kanu, who holds Nigerian and British passports, was arrested by security operatives outside his London base on Sunday.

He had been declared wanted by the Federal Government since 2017 after he jumped bail following the invasion of his country home in Abia State by soldiers

A source disclosed that Kanu was arrested while leaving Israel for an unknown country but this could not be independently verified on Tuesday,

The source stated, "The request for the arrest of Kanu was made to the INTERPOL headquarters in Lyon, France, about two months ago. Kanu could not be arrested at his London base because he is a British citizen and repatriating him to Nigeria may be challenging and the process cumbersome. 

So, the security agencies waited patiently for him to leave the British soil before moving against him: he was arrested while on transit. There was evidence of his meetings with foreign governments to solicit support for Biafra"

Another source corroborated that Kanu was nabbed while on transit but said he could not confirm the exact location.

"The Nigerian government used conventional diplomatic means to facilitate the arrest of Kanu through the INTERPOL. There are also suggestions that our intelligence agencies played a role in the arrest and extradition process. It was confirmed that Kanu was picked up while on transit but the location cannot be immediately confirmed," the source volunteered.

As part of strategies to arrest the separatist group leader, the President was said to have met with the French President, Emmanuel Macron, in May during a summit on the Financing of African post-COVID economies convened by the French government where he sought Macron and INTERPOL's support for the arrest of Kanu.