State Diplomatic Protection for Citizens With Dual Nationality (Case Study of Nnamdi Kanu, Nigerian and British National)

Abstract

In international law, diplomatic protection involves the process by which a state protects its nationals or citizens whose rights have been violated by another state. Generally, this applies to its nationals or citizens abroad. It is important to note that diplomatic protection so described differs from protection of diplomats abroad, while the former deals with protection of all their citizens abroad, the later is restricted to only their citizens who are on state official assignment while abroad. Dual nationality on the other hand connotes a person having the nationality of two different states, i.e. a citizen of two states. This article focuses on Nnamdi Kanu, a citizen of both the United Kingdom and Nigeria, and the concerns raised by international law scholars alike on the diplomatic issues surrounding his recent arrest. Nnamdi Kanu lived for the better part of his adult years in the United Kingdom with his family from where he led a movement for self-determination of the eastern region in Nigeria, occasionally making appearances in Nigeria to foster the cause of the movement known as the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB). In 2015, he was arrested for perceived acts of terrorism in Nigeria and while facing trial, he was granted bail but thereafter departed Nigeria to the United Kingdom in 2017. On the 27th of June 2021, he was again rearrested with the circumstances of his arrest shrouded in mystery. Some conspiracies say he was arrested while in Kenya and repatriated back to Nigeria, however, a statement by the Kenyan government has debunked the stories stating that they were never involved in any acts of repatriation. Again, others have argued that he was abducted from Kenya without the knowledge of Kenyan government. No issues may arise when a citizen of a particular state is arrested abroad on suspicions of crime in a state where he is not a citizen; in such situation, the state can offer diplomatic protection to such citizens. In this article, by international law standards, we attempt to answer the question whether a state can exercise diplomatic protection over a citizen who is in another state where he holds a citizenship or in cases of a third state, what state would be recognized, where the person involved has dual nationality.