The self-styled General of the National Resistance Movement (NRM), Miguna Miguna has been deported to Canada, security sources and his lawyers confirmed.
Miguna was forced into a KLM flight on Tuesday night–hours after refusing to take plea in a Kajiado court for charges related to the mock swearing in of Raila Odinga as the people’s president.
Miguna had stamped documents used for Odinga’s self-inauguration as Kenya’s alternate president at Uhuru Park in Nairobi on January 30.
He was there with leaders including Ruaraka MP TJ Kajwang, who administered the oath, and Siaya senator and lawyer James Orengo, who has represented many of the coalition’s politicians in legal matters.
“We are reliably informed that Miguna Miguna has been forced into a KLM flight for “deportation” to Canada. Now, how do you deport a Kenyan? This Country has been overrun by criminals,” lawyer Nelson Havi wrote on Twitter.
The official government newsroom said on Twitter, ‘‘Miguna is headed home. The court ordered he gets released and the interior ministry obeyed the orders and even assisted him with a flight ticket home’‘.
Kenya’s Interior ministry claims Miguna denounced his Kenyan citizenship years back. Spokesman Mwenda Njoka said the lawyer never bothered to reclaim it.
“Mr Miguna denounced his Kenyan citizenship years back, acquired Canadian citizenship and never bothered to reclaim Kenyan citizenship in the legally prescribed manner neither did he disclose that he had another country’s citizenship despite being a lawyer who should have known better,” Mr Mwenda said on Twitter.
Miguna is headed home. The court ordered he gets released and @InteriorKE obeyed the orders and even assisted him with a flight ticket home. Please note he renewed his Canadian Passport on 16th June 2017. pic.twitter.com/86OmxI5dvC
— NEXUS (@NEXUSKE) February 6, 2018
Miguna is a Kenyan, born in Kisumu district and practices law both in Kenya and Canada–where he was granted political asylum, enabling him to pursue higher education and even obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Philosophy from the University of Toronto and later pursued law at the Osgoode Hall Law School. He often reminds his audience that he is a barrister and solicitor in Canada.
He was detained by the Moi regime due to political activism while serving as a student leader at the University of Nairobi, and fled to Tanzania on foot upon release, before heading to Swaziland for a brief stay before he Canada took him in.
In the wake of raging social media debate on Miguna’s nationality and if he holds dual citizenship, Interior Ministry Spokesman Mwenda Njoka tweeted that “Miguna denounced his Kenyan citizenship years back, acquired Canadian citizenship & never bothered to reclaim Kenyan citizenship in the legally prescribed manner neither did he disclose that he had another country’s citizenship despite being a lawyer who should have known better”.
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