Crime
Kanu: Fani-Kayode, senator sued for aiding IPOB leader’s escape
A suit is pending before the Federal High Court in Abuja, praying the court to probe and prosecute former Minister Femi Fani-Kayode for aiding the escape of Nnamdi Kanu, the leader ofIPOB facing treason trial.
Osiah Ayugu brought the suit during the week.
He described himself as a taxpaying responsible Nigerian and lawyer.
In the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1254/18, he claimed that due to Kanu’s escape from Nigeria, the IPOB leader’s trial on charges of treasonable felony had remained stalled before Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court in Abuja.
He said as a Nigerian, his image had been damaged “by the character assassination, lies, falsehood, evil propaganda made against the Nigerian Army that the Nigerian Army has abducted, arrested, kidnapped, assassinated and killed Nnamdi Kanu.”
Kanu escaped during the Nigerian Army Operation Python Dance in the southeast September 2017.
Ayugu said Fani-Kayode and others as responsible for the spreading of the alleged propaganda and the eventual escape of the IPOB leader from Nigeria.
Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, Tochukwu Uchendu and Emmanuel Shallom Ben had stood as sureties for the separatist leader who got bail on medical ground after being held in detention for about two years.
Others were Kanu’s lawyer Ifeanyi Ejiofor, and the IPOB leader’s relatives – Emmanuel Kanu and Uchechi Kanu.
“They worked together to propagate and spread the inciting lies and falsehood that Nnamdi Kanu had been abducted, arrested, kidnapped, detained, killed and assassinated by the Nigerian Army when indeed they were well aware of Nnamdi Kanu’s whereabouts because they played roles in helping Nnamdi Kanu to disappear from Nigeria,” he said.
Director-General of the Department of State Services, the DSS itself, the Inspector-General of Police and the Nigeria Police Force were also joined in the suit.
According to him, the government agencies had “statutory duty to investigate, identify and prosecute all persons suspected of being involved in spreading inciting and false news against the Nigerian military as well as aid Nnamdi Kanu to evade justice.”
Kanu was brought back into Nigeria’s current affairs when his video taken in Israel went viral on the internet weeks ago.
As the video went viral, Fani-Kayode hit the news, claiming he had got Kanu’s promise to make IPOB help PDP defeat President Muhammadu Buhari in 2019.