Abduction of Nairobi Billionaire Gets Global Attention

LIght Academy Schools
A file Image of the entrance to Light Academy

The abduction of a Turkish billionaire living in Kenya has attracted international attention with Kenyan authorities being put under pressure to explain the businessman's whereabouts. 

Selahattin Gulen was abducted on May 3, 2021, while on his way to the DCI Headquarters in Nairobi's Kiambu Road. 

He had been living in the country for a few years working as a teacher and running the family-owned business - Light Academy Group of Schools.

His wife, Serriye Gulen, who relocated to Kenya on November 6, 2020 claimed that her husband was abducted by Turkish spies who later flew her to the European nation. 

Her video, pleading for Turkish and Kenyan authorities to return her husband, was widely shared among Turks in the dispora. 

A file photo of Interior CS Fred Matiang'i
A file photo of Interior CS Fred Matiang'i
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She added that Selahattin was targeted because he is the nephew of Fethullah Gulen, Turkey's opposition leader who is in forced exile in the United States.

“He was kidnapped by a group of anonymous people and taken to an unknown place, I have not heard from him since that day,” Serriye.

 “I believe he was kidnapped and taken to Turkey on May 5. I reckon he is facing an abduction only because his surname is Gulen,” mentioned the wife.

The abducted tycoon's uncle is believed to have been behind the plan to overthrow the Turkish government in July 2016. 

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had in 2016 unsuccessfully pressured African countries, including Kenya, to close schools owned by the extended Gulen family.

The family runs six schools under the Light Academy group (four in Nairobi and two in Mombasa). 

Interior CS Fred Matiang’i, Inspector General of Police Hillary Mutyambai were ordered to appear in a Kiambu Court to explain the whereabouts of the tycoon.

Last year, he appealed the Kenyan government to drop the arrest and extradition order on him.

Fethullah Gulen
A file Image of Fethullah Gulen,

 

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