Nigerian Law Firm Sues China Over COVID-19

Azinge and Azinge, a law firm, with a team of local and international legal experts are set to sue China for $200 billion damages for allegedly causing loss of lives, economic strangulation, trauma and disruption of daily existence of the Nigerian people.

Prof. Epiphany Azinge (SAN), lead counsel, stated that the teams of legal experts have planned a two-phase line of action. First of the action is to file an action at the federal high court and secondly to persuade the government to institute a state action against China at the International Court of Justice in Hague.

Azinge, a notable professor of law disclosed that the Chinese government would be served through its Embassy in Nigeria.

He said that “for now we make it that the plaintiffs/claimants in the suit are Nigerians in representative capacity. Many are of the mis­conceived view that it’s only the families of persons who died of COVID, or who tested positive to the infection, that can bring such action.

“No, because if you look at what we put out, we said the action is for loss of life, economic strangulation, trauma, hardship, and so on. So it’s not just the be­reaved family that suffered loss or hardship. There are many oth­ers that did. Being in a lockdown alone is no child’s play. Staying at home without food for so many people is also trauma of the high­est order.” He added

According to him “The restriction of your freedom, which has come with this pandemic, is a challenge of it’s own. Many Nigerians one way or another has suffered un­told hardship and incalculable loss, as such. One way or another this thing has gravely affected ev­eryone beyond mere contracting of the disease. If you go to the CBN today or the budget office, you cannot imagine the loss that has occurred to this country. A situation where our oil is now selling at minus three dollars. So you can understand what has happened. When we say we are claiming $200billion it’s not something that will be personal to anybody. We’re hoping that ul­timately it will be something that will be good for all Nigerians.”

Source: Commweek