The Chairman of the Presidential Amnesty Committee, Kingsley Kuku, has denied reports that he fled the country to evade investigation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The denial was contained in a suit filed by the former Special Adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan on Niger Delta Affairs through his counsel, Karina Tunyan (SAN), before an Abuja High Court.
Kuku, in a 35-paragraph statement of claim, submitted that contrary to report by a newspaper that he fled Nigeria before the May 29 handover to President Muhammadu Buhari, he travelled out of Nigeria to the USA for a scheduled medical procedure at the Andrews Sports Medicine and Orthopedic Center (LLC) Alabama, via London, almost two months after the May 29 handover date.
The former presidential aide, however, prayed the court to award the sum of N500 million as general damages against an Abuja based media outfit, The Abuja Inquirer, and its publishers, Gazetta Communications Ltd, for publishing the alleged libellous story, which he said was intended to paint him as a fugitive so as to expose him to public hatred and ridicule.
In the suit marked CV/2634/15, and dated August 19, the plaintiff among other things, sought for a declaration that the publication in pages 1 and 3 of the July 27-August 2, 2015 edition of The Abuja Inquirer, Vol. 11 No 7 ISSN. 1597, captioned ‘Kingsley Kuku Flees Nigeria’, written of and concerning the plaintiff is libellous, false and defamatory.
