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Alleged rights breach: TAF Africa CEO, Jake Epelle, testifies against Emirates Airline 

The Nigeria court

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Mr Jake Epelle, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of The Albino Foundation (TAF) Africa on Thursday, testified in his N150 million suit filed against Emirates Airline.

By Taiye Agbaje

Mr Jake Epelle, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of The Albino Foundation (TAF) Africa on Thursday, testified in his N150 million suit filed against Emirates Airline.

Epelle gave his evidence as sole witness before Justice Musa Liman of a Federal High Court in Abuja over allegations bordering on the breach of his fundamental human rights by the airline.

Led in evidence by his lawyer, Regina Okotie-Eboh, Epelle identified his witness statement on oath dated March 18, 2024, and adopted it as his evidence-in-chief.

Okotie-Eboh also tendered Epelle’s international passport, the boarding pass, the flight ticket, the letters from Stanford Medicine, also known as Stanford Healthcare; the email message and the ticket purchases from Emirates Airline as evidence in the case.

The lawyer equally tendered the flight ticket from Delta Airline, another letter from Stanford University School of Medicine, a letter from the plaintiff’s counsel demanding N150 million damages from Emirates Airline, and another letter from plaintiff’s counsel to Epelle in respect of fees for filing the suit, among others, as evidence.

The lawyer to the Emirates Airline, Michael Dedon, did not object to tendering all the documents and Justice Liman admitted them in evidence and marked them as exhibits in the suit.

When Okotie-Eboh asked Epelle what he wanted from the court, the TAF CEO said: “I want this honourable court to grant my reliefs.”

Dedon, while cross examining NAIJAONPOINT , said Epelle should know as a regular traveller that holding a visa of a country, does not guarantee anyone an entry into the destination country.

Responding, Epelle, though admitted Dedon’s statement, he however clarified that the process of stopping an individual from entering a country should be the responsibility of the embassy staff and not the airline.

“It is the embassy staff that will come there and cancel my visa and tell me not to go. But this did not happend,” he said.

NAIJAONPOINT said the Emirate Airline did not show him any tangible evidence why he was denied access into the U.S.

According to him, it was just a mere information.

When the lawyer told him if he agreed with him that admission into a foreign country is at the discretion of immigration officers attending to the immigrant, Epelle insisted that it was not the US immigration officers that denied him access into the country.

“Just from your words, it is the immigration officers, by themselves at the point of entry that will turn you back. But this was not the case.”

He said it was the Emirates airline that stopped him from proceeding on his journey.

He said even when he came back to the US Embassy in Nigeria for clarification, the officer who attended to him confirmed that his name was not on the restriction list.

“I turned down the US green card because of the people I represent in the country.

“I hold a UN status; I am the UN Ambassador for Albinism. I am a human rights defender and I won the Franco-German Prize for Human Rights and the Rule of Law,” he said.

Epelle, who broke down in tears in NAIJAONPOINT box, said there was no reason the US would have denied him access into the country.

“My lord, it is so traumatic because any time this case comes up, it takes my memory back to what Emirates Airline did to me,” he said.

When Dedon asked Epelle if he was given any document from the US Embassy to show to the court that his name was not on the restriction list, he said diplomatically, the embassy would not have given him any documents.

He, however, said that the embassy worker showed him from their system to confirm that there was no email from the US Immigration and Border Control stopping him from entering the country.

He said it was the embassy worker who advised him to board Delta Airline back to the US.

“Look, I am a skin cancer patient. Emirates Airline would have just killed me for nothing,” he said, weeping.

Justuce Liman adjourned the matter until March 27 for defence to open their case.

Earlier before the case proceed, Okotie-Eboh informed the court that Epelle was indisposed.

The lawyer, who said Epelle came from the hospital bed to give evidence, prayed the court to allow the hearing proceed because the matter had been dragging since 2021 when it was filed.

“The matter was adjourned for hearing and our sole witness is around. He has been on admission but he is ready to give evidence,” she had said.

The judge, however, asked Epelle if the matter could be adjourned to allow him attend to his health but he agreed to go on with the matter.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Epelle, in the suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/1285/2021, sued Emirates Airline as the sole defendant.

 In his statement of claim, the TAF Africa CEO alleged that on Dec. 20, 2020, he was billed to travel on a medical trip to San Francisco, U.S.

He averred that upon being issued with the boarding passes to San Francisco. he alongside his colleague, Mrs Green Mary Ibitoru, boarded flight No EK 785 from the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja to Dubai, United Arab Emirates (U.A.E).

He alleged that upon arrival at the Dubai International Airport, on Dec. 20, 2020, he sought to board the next flight to Boston as already scheduled but was denied access to board the Emirate Airline.

Ekpelle said he was informed by the airline staff at their connecting desk in Dubai International Airport, Dubai that the United States of America (USA) Border Control sent a mail to them via electronic mail (email) requesting that he should be denied access to board their flight to Boston.

He said he kept demanding for the reason for being denied access to board the flight to Boston but was not given any except the one reason which was that the U.S. Border Control sent a mail to the defendant stating that the plaintiff be denied access to board the defendant’s flight to Boston.

He, however, said that he was never shown any mail from the US Boarder Control denying him access to board the defendant’s flight to Boston.

He said regardless of his insistence of not having any travel restriction, no criminal records and not been politically exposed, Emirate Airline did nothing to confirm his position.

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