Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), has withdrawn a fundamental human rights violation suit filed against the federal government of Nigeria.
The withdrawal was announced in a tweet on Thursday, by Kanu’s special counsel, Aloy Ejimakor.
Aloy said, “Federal high court case for November 18 is discontinued”, Ejimakor said the case was discontinued for strategic reasons that would be inappropriate and unprofessional to disclose publicly.
Kanu had through his lawyer, in a suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1702/222, dated and filed on September 23, asked the court to declare the arrest and imprisonment of Kanu at a location in Kenya and the subsequent imprisonment in the aircraft that conveyed him from Kenya to Nigeria, amounted to false arrest and false imprisonment.
Other requests include, “A declaration of this honourable court that the defendants acted in bad faith and/or abused their public offices in falsely arresting and falsely imprisoning the plaintiff at the said location in Kenya and said aircraft;
“An order of this honourable court directing the defendants to, jointly and severally, pay to the plaintiff the sum of N20,000,000,000.00 being general and exemplary damages;
“An order of this honourable court directing the defendants to separately write and deliver to the plaintiff an unreserved personal letter of apology.”
Listed in the suit are Abubakar Malami, attorney-general of the federation and Ahmed Abubakar, director-general of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) as the first and second defendants, respectively.
Justice Inyang Ekwo had fixed November 18 for the hearing of the matter.