November 24, (THEWILL) – Detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, has sued the Director General of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Ahmed Abubakar, over his arrest and eight days of ‘false imprisonment’ in Kenya, in July 2021.
Kanu, who filed the suit at the Abia State High Court in Umuahia through his lawyer, Aloy Ejimakor, is seeking N20 billion in compensation for general and exemplary damages for the alleged violation of his rights.
Ejimakor, who spoke with journalists after filing the suit on Thursday, said newly discovered evidence that “implicated Abubakar beyond the infamous extraordinary rendition prompted the legal action.”
“This is the first extraordinary rendition suit against the Director-General of the NIA, Ahmed Abubakar, either in his personal or official capacity after new evidence implicated him in the false arrest and imprisonment of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu,” he said.
In the suit, Ejimakor stated that the forced imprisonment of Kanu was without his consent as the Kenyan Government had publicly and categorically denied any role in the arrest and imprisonment of his client.
The writ of summons reads: “I declare that the manner of arrest and detention of the Applicant in Kenya, his continued detention in Abuja, his subjection to physical and mental trauma by the Respondents, the inhuman and degrading treatment meted out to the Applicant amounts to a brazen violation of the Applicant’s fundamental right to dignity of his person and threat to life under Section 34 (1)(a) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended).
“Claimant hereby pleads this Judgment Order and the Judgment and shall rely on same at the trial of this suit. See Annexures 4 and 5.
“By virtue of his public office, the Defendant has a public duty to act in good faith, not to abuse his public office and to ensure that the arrest and imprisonment of the Claimant in Kenya was conducted in accordance with law.
“By falsely arresting and imprisoning the Claimant in Kenya, the Defendant breached his statutory duty requiring him to arrest and/or imprison the Claimant in Kenya only in accordance with law.”
The suit also highlighted the demands and reliefs of the IPOB leader:
“A DECLARATION of this Honorable Court that the Defendant’s arrest of the Claimant and his imprisonment of the Claimant at said location in Nairobi, Kenya amounted to false arrest and false imprisonment.
“A DECLARATION of this Honorable Court that the Defendant acted in bad faith and/or abused his public office in falsely imprisoning the Claimant at the said location in Kenya.
“AN ORDER of this Honorable Court directing the Defendant to pay to the Claimant the sum of N20,000,000,000.00 (Twenty Billion Naira only) being general and exemplary damages.
“AN ORDER of this Honorable Court directing the Defendant to write and deliver to the Claimant, an unreserved personal letter of apology. The letter of apology shall be prominently and boldly published full-page in two Nigerian Newspapers of national circulation, namely: Guardian Newspaper and Sun Newspaper.
“AN ORDER of this Honorable Court directing the Defendants to pay the cost of this Suit.
“AND SUCH FURTHER ORDER(S) as this Honourable Court may deem fit and expedient to make in the circumstance.”
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