The UK wants Buhari to explain how Nnamdi Kanu was arrested

The UK needs answers and fast.

Britain has asked Nigeria to explain where and how leader of the proscribed and separatist Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, was arrested.

Kanu, who is a British citizen, was reportedly arrested in Kenya.

He had been on the run for four years and was brought into Abuja, Nigeria's capital city, on Sunday June 27, 2021; before being herded into a courtroom in handcuffs on June 29.

His lawyer and brother say he was maltreated by the Kenyan government before his extradition to Nigeria.

"We are seeking clarification from the Nigerian government about the circumstances of the arrest and detention of Nnamdi Kanu," Tariq Ahmad, a junior minister at Britain's Foreign Office, tells Reuters.

Nnamdi Kanu during his trial in Abuja, on February 9, 2015/ AFPPulse Live Kenya

Ahmad also says the UK has requested consular access to Kanu and stands ready to provide consular assistance.

The fugitive

Kanu flouted his bail conditions while on trial for treason and terrorism in 2017, and fled the country.

IPOB seeks a separatist southeastern region that tried in 1967 to break away from Nigeria under the name 'Republic of Biafra'.

The 1967 secession attempt triggered a three-year civil war in which more than a million Igbos died, mostly from starvation.

54-year-old Kanu will be herded to a courtroom on July 26, 2021 to be arraigned on an 11-count charge bordering on treasonable felony, terrorism, managing an unlawful society, publication of defamatory material, illegal possession of firearms, improper importation of goods, among other charges.