A coalition of Nigerian legal experts has filed a class action suit against the Peoples Republic of China over the effects of the coronavirus pandemic effect on Nigerians. They are demanding $200 billion as damages for the “loss of lives, economic strangulation, trauma, hardship, social disorientation, mental torture and disruption of normal daily existence of people in Nigeria.”
A statement by the lead counsel, Prof. Epiphany Azinge (SAN), whose firm, Azinge and Azinge, is championing the action, said they had concluded pleadings for the class action against the Chinese government. Azinge is a former Director-General of the Nigeria Institute of Legal Studies (NIALS) and a current member of the Commonwealth Arbitral Tribunal London, representing Nigeria and Africa.
He said: “The team of legal experts planned a two phase line of action-: first is with the federal high court of Nigeria and secondly to persuade the government of Federal Republic of Nigeria to institute a state action against the Peoples Republic of China at the International Court of Justice at the Hague
“The legal experts will be claiming damages to the tune of 200billion dollars and the Chinese Government will be served through its Embassy in Nigeria.”
The lawsuit was filed as Nigeria’s coronavirus cases increased to 1273 on Sunday with a single-day discovery of 91 new cases confirmed by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC). Lagos has the highest number of confirmed cases on Sunday night with 43 cases. While the spread of the virus intensified in Sokoto State, with the state recording eight new cases.
Taraba State recorded six new cases, while Kaduna and Gombe recorded five new cases each. Three new cases were confirmed in Ogun, Edo, Oyo, Rivers, Bauchi and Nigeria’s capital city Abuja. Osun recorded new two cases, and Bayelsa, Ebonyi and Kebbi recorded one case each.
Meanwhile, no fewer than 30 prominent people, including four professors lost their lives within the last 48 hours in Kano State. Three of the four Professors were serving members of the academic community of Bayero University, Kano (BUK). The list includes Prof. Balarabe Maikaba of Faculty of Communication; Prof Sabo Kurawa, Sociology Department, and Prof. Umar Dikko of Physiology department. A renowned Professor of Economics, Prof. Ibrahim Ayagi, was also among the list of high-profile academics that died within the last 48 hours in Kano.
This is coming as a human rights lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Femi Falana, asked the Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, to publish the full report of the investigation into the recent deaths in the state. Prominent among the people that died on Sunday (Yesterday) were Professor Maikaba; Hajia Mairo Ado, Assistant Corp Commander (ACC Admin) FRSC; Alhaji Tasiu Sharifai, Sarkin Kasuwa of Kofar Wambai; Chairman of All Progressives Congress (APC) in Tarauni Local Government Area, Alhaji Muhammad Idris, and Alhaji Usman Aliyu Shanono , a businessman, residing at Gwale LGA. Late Maikaba was the Former Head of Mass Communication Department, Bayero University Kano, and also Professor of Mass Communications.
In a letter addressed to the minister on behalf of the “Alliance on Surviving COVID-19 Action Programme and Beyond,” of which he is interim chairman, Falana said the state seems overwhelmed and asked the federal government to take control of the situation. “In addition, we are compelled to request for a certified true copy of the report of the joint investigation conducted by the Federal and Kano State Ministries of Health into the strange deaths and mass burials taking place in Kano State.”
Among those who died on Saturday include: Professor Ayagi; Dr. Musa Umar Gwarzo; Alhaji Dahiru Rabiu (former Grand Khadi); Musa Tijjani (Editor of Triumph Newspaper); Alhaji Aminu Yahaya, former Commissioner of Education; Adamu Isyaku Dal (former SUBEB Executive Secretary); Alhaji Salisu Lado; Hajiya Shamsiyya Mustapha; Hajiya Nene Umma; Alhaji Garba Sarki Fagge; Dr. Nasiru Maikano Bichi; Secretary, Student Affairs, North West University; Professor Aliyu Umar Dikko of Physiology Department, BUK and mother of popular Hausa musician, Ado Gwanja, among others.
The Director, Centre for Infectious Diseases, Bayero University Kano (BUK), Dr. Isa Abubakar said the disease resulting to the surge in deaths was not related to COVID-19. According to him, none of the deceased was confirmed to have exhibited the symptoms of the coronavirus.
In another development, fear has gripped residents of Maiduguri, the Borno State capital after two patients, Abbas Hassan, a 24 year-old male and Hauwa Mohammed, 42-year-old female, who tested positive for Covid-19 at the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH) escaped quarantine. The male patient is said to be residing at Layin Tanki in Gwange II while the woman lives in Shuwari ward, both in Maiduguri.
Borno State Commissioner for Health and Secretary to the state’s high-powered response team for the prevention and control of COVID-19, Dr. Salisu Kwaya-Bura alerted the public at the team’s daily media briefing held yesterday. The commissioner said the male patient (Abbas) was in initial telephone contact with the response team after his sample was collected, but eventually switched off his phone when he learnt he tested positive. He also said a phone number through, which the patient’s mother was in touch with the team has also been switched off. He noted that a diligent surveillance and investigation team is working very hard to track the patient
