. . . Says Kenyatta, Huto ‘must be made to face international diplomatic sanctions and criminal trial especially the reopening of their criminal trial at the ICC’

Frontline rights group, the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety), on Saturday slammed the Government of Kenya, telling it to cover its face in shame over the role it played in the recent arrest and extradition of the Leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, to Nigeria. Intersociety said in a statement signed by its Principal Officers Emeka Umeagbalasi, Ndidiamaka Bernard and Chidimma Udegbunam, Esq., that what the outgoing Government of Uhuru Kenyatta and William Huto did is however not surprising considering its “notoriety in international roguery”.

It said that the disclosures arising from the Friday meeting between Barr Ifanyichukwu Ejiofor, the Lead Counsel to the Leader of IPOB, and his client “have shamed the outgoing Kenyan Government and laid to rest any further doubt as to the despicable roles played by the Government of Kenya in the criminal arrest on its soil and forceful extraction of the IPOB Leader back to Nigeria.”

According to the statement issued in Onitsha, Eastern Nigeria, “We at Intersociety are not surprised at perfidious lies internationally told by the Kenyan Government. The Uhuru Kenyatta and William Huto Government is sobriquet “Buhari and Osinbajo Government of Nigeria”, and had since their emergence in April 2013 been marked with local and international corporate image bastardization and ruination. The present Kenyan Government is also lacking in character, due process and rule of law.

“Instances abound. In December 2007 and January 2008, the country was gravely embroiled in election violence that led to killing of at least 1,300 civilians and displacement of over 600,000 others and as a result, the attention of the international community was caught and justice action demanded. Uhuru Kenyatta and William Huto, who later became the country’s President and Vice President in April 2013, were principally fingered, though they denied any wrongdoing. The matter was later taken to ICC and after their election and swearing in, in 2013, a case was opened against them and by virtue of their presidential seats, they were allowed to be attending their criminal trials while on seat.

“But rather than cooperating with ICC and proving their innocence as they pledged, they reneged and took steps to undermine the trial proceedings and the authority of the ICC. They instigated the Kenyan Parliament to pass yes votes exiting the ICC as a State-Party in Sept 2013. Not done, it was also independently alleged that assembled pieces of evidence and witnesses against the Kenyan President and his Deputy were tempered and the witnesses threatened and compromised; forcing them to decline showing up to testify against them. As a result, the case got messed up, forcing the Court to withdraw the case against Uhuru Kenyatta in 2014 and dismissal of that against Deputy President, William Huto in 2016. As if these were not enough, in May 2021, the same Kenyan Government criminally arrested and forcefully extradited back to Turkey, Selahaddin Gulen, the nephew of Fetullah Gulen, Turkey’s most wanted man, now living on asylum in the United States. The Eastern African Section of the Human Rights Watch is now battling Kenyan Government for “abducting and deporting Gulen to Turkey at the end of May 2021”; thereby ‘violating Kenya’s obligations to uphold the principles of non refoulement under international and regional refugee laws’. Same is also the case with the ‘18th June’ 2021 criminal arrest and forceful extradition of the IPOB Leader.”

Calling for Uhuru Kenyatta and William Huto to face appropriate punishment, Intersociety said: “The Government of Uhuru Kenyatta and William Huto (Deputy President) is outgoing. This is to the extent that they were first elected for four year term in April 2013 and reelected for second and final term in August 2017 winning 54% of the popular votes cast and on the basis of the Kenya’s new Constitution promulgated on 27th August 2010. On 1st Sept 2017, their election was nullified by the country’s Supreme Court and fresh poll was ordered to be conducted within 60 days and on 26th Oct, a fresh poll mired in boycotts and allegations of irregularities by the opposition, was conducted leading to the emergence of Uhuru Kenyatta and his Deputy, William Huto, who scored 30.03% of the popular votes cast. If counted using a date in August, their Government will elapse in less than two months, but if counted using a date in October, the Government will end in about four months. Whichever way, the duo must be made to face international diplomatic sanctions and criminal trial especially the reopening of their criminal trial at the ICC or issuance of international arrest warrants in any of the countries in EU, UK and North America.”

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