Aloy Ejimakor, lawyer to the detained Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) leader Nnamdi Kanu, says the legal circumstances in Kanu’s case are fundamentally different from those involving Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

Ejimakor made the distinction on his X account while responding to public comparisons of the two situations. He noted that Maduro’s case is being handled within a context of international law, where he is treated as an “alien enemy” under wartime or hostile conditions following a U.S. military capture. In the U.S. context, authorities have argued that Maduro’s status justified extraordinary measures tied to allegations like drug trafficking and threats to national security.

In contrast, Ejimakor argued that Kanu is a private citizen whose arrest and transfer to Nigeria were not conducted within any recognised international legal framework. He described Kanu’s rendition as illegal and a criminal act by a state, pointing out that the two cases cannot be legally compared because Kanu’s detention raises questions about due process and the rule of law rather than issues of armed conflict or enemy status.

Kanu was recently sentenced to life imprisonment in Nigeria on terrorism-related charges, a conviction his legal team has said they will appeal.