On June 29, a dull, somewhat grainy picture of Nigerian activist Nnamdi Kanu in handcuffs began circulating on the internet, shortly after what seemed like unlikely news about his arrest in and extradition from a yet-to-be officially disclosed foreign country—possibly Kenya or Ethiopia—had broken. Kanu is the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), a separatist organization in Nigeria agitating for the secession of the country’s east.
Kanu was first arrested in 2015 on charges of terrorism and disappeared in 2017 in the middle of his trial. His arrest and extradition were not surprising, giving the vigor with which Nigeria’s government acts against dissidents and the resources it’s willing to spend in doing so. But his arrest added fuel to an already potentially explosive situation.
