Femi Adesina, a spokesperson for former President Muhammadu Buhari’s regime, has revealed that Buhari once said he would have sponsored the assassination of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the leader of proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), but opted to kidnap and return him to Nigeria for trial.
In his newly published book, “Reflections of a Special Adviser, Media and Publicity (2015-2023),” Adesina stated that Buhari said he opted for the arrest of Mr Kanu instead of mobilizing to assassinate him abroad when a delegation of Igbos led by Chief Mbazulike Ameachi met with the president in the villa to beg for clemency for Mr Kanu.
While talking to the Amaechi-led delegate, Buhari said: “Let him make his case in court instead of giving a terrible impression of the country from outside. I feel it is a favour to give him (Mr Kanu) that opportunity. Government could have mobilised to eliminate him where he was, but we did not do that.”
Buhari further told the delegate that their request was a hard one for him to grant, but he would consider it.
He said: “You have made an extremely difficult demand on me as the leader of this country. The implication of your request is very serious. In the last six years, nobody will say I have confronted the judiciary. We are developing a country, and we have to go through the pains,
On July 1, 2021, Kanu was repatriated back to Nigeria after disappearing from the country after the military raided his home.
The regime issued an unclear explanation of how Kanu was “intercepted through the collaborative efforts of the Nigerian intelligence and security services,” but failed to further elaborate on the circumstances of Kanu’s capture. Meanwhile, the Kenya government denied involvement in Kanu’s arrest and repatriation to Nigeria from their soil.
George Wajackoyah, a counsel representing Kanu said the Buhari-led regime abducted Mr Kanu from Nairobi.
He said: “We have copies of his passport and a stamp that he was indeed in Kenya. We also have evidence he was in his residence on a particular day. We also have material proof that he was at the airport on a particular day to meet a friend, and there he was arrested.”
Kanu has been held in detention since 2021. In December 2023, the Supreme Court of Nigeria upheld the treasonable charge against him.
