Ifeanyi Ejiofor, lead counsel to the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, has called on the Senate Chief Whip, Orji Uzor Kalu to disclose how he gained access to the agitator in the detention of the Department of State Services, DSS.
Ejiofor said Kalu’s visit to the IPOB leader was no more than an empty positioning for political gains ahead of 2023.
The IPOB leader lead counsel, disclosed this in a statement on Saturday, describing it as a “cheap political stunts and hypocritical pretensions.”
WITHIN NIGERIA recalls that the former Abia governor on Monday paid a visit to the detained IPOB leader, who is in the custody of the Department of State Services (DSS) in Abuja.
Ejiofor added that he was informed on Monday that a politician had expressed a desire to see Kanu; this, he said, made him compile a fresh list of visitors submitted to the secret police.
He explained that as a result of the system in place, Kalu could not be allowed to visit the IPOB leader in detention that same day.
However, the lawmaker was said to have wittingly gained access to the facility, which caused a delay for Kanu’s lawyers.
Read full statement below:
KEEPING THE RECORD STRAIGHT – Orji Uzo Kalu’s Visit To Nnamdi Kanu A “Cheap Political Stunts And Hypocritical Pretensions”
IN RE: ORJI UZOR KALU (OUK):
“On/or about 11AM on the 29th of November 2021, I received a phone call from a reliable source. The latter informed me that a certain Orji Uzor Kalu expressed desire to see my client, Onyendu Mazi Nnamdi Kanu. The intended visit was ostensibly in further pursuit of the political solution to the unconditional release of my client.
“I had before then resolved not to constitute myself an impediment to the exploration of any such political solution, I welcomed the idea. Consequently, I was constrained to substitute the name of one of the persons already scheduled for the visit for the name of Orji Uzor Kalu.
“I then proceeded to submit a fresh list containing the name of the latter to the relevant authorities on/or about 12 noon of the aforementioned date.
“When the team of lawyers who were scheduled to visit my client arrived at the Reception Hall of the headquarters of the Department of State Security (DSS), on/or about 1.55PM of the aforementioned date, they were informed that Orji Uzor Kalu, whose name appeared on the list at the 11th hour, would not be allowed to see Onyendu Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.
“The reason for this decision was clear. As the name of Orji Uzor Kalu was merely submitted on the day of the intended visit, and not earlier as was the practice, he could not, without permission and/or clearance from superior authority, be granted access to visit my client in the detention facility of the DSS.
“Orji Kalu’s hypocritical pretensions was worsened by the fact that he is a politician (and a wily one at that), and he is not related to Onyendu Mazi Nnamdi Kanu either by affinity or consanguinity.
“This position taken by the Detaining Authority did not come as a surprise, or so I thought.
“Long before the 29th of November 2021, the DSS consistently and variously denied certain persons of sundry political persuasions, and proven elder statesmen, access to Onyendu Mazi Nnamdi Kanu in DSS custody. A case in point is that of Dr Chukwuemeka Ezeife, former Governor of Anambra State.
“The inclusion of the name of Orji Uzor Kalu at the 11th hour in the fresh list submitted to the DSS on the day of the intended visit had the effect of temporarily stultifying the access operatives of the DSS could easily have afforded the lawyers. So I thought honestly.
“But there was more to it. The lawyers were kept waiting till on/or about 3.20pm of that day when they were finally cleared to ingress the detention facility. At first, I thought this delay to be inexplicable and unreasonable, but, with hindsight, I concluded that the delay was deliberate. It was occasioned by the fact that Orji Uzor Kalu had earlier arrived at the DSS facility and had gone to visit Onyendu Mazi Nnamdi Kanu at the time the lawyers were literally forced to wait for a pretended reason.
“I then became convinced that the objection that was taken at the inclusion of the name of Orji Uzor Kalu at the 11th hour in the list of persons scheduled for the visit was a ruse, a smokescreen, and a deceptive ploy, ingeniously but mischievously contrived to hoodwink us. It had that temporary effect. The pretended reason was designed to keep us waiting while Orji Uzor Kalu had his interaction with Onyendu. The delay of about two hours was clearly unjustified.
“Orji Uzor Kalu, whose name was on the list of visitors that was submitted and whose name was deceptively objected to by operatives of the DSS, had earlier arrived the DSS facility and had, in a manner that was extremely surreptitious, gained access to Onyendu Mazi Nnamdi Kanu in custody! Lawyers that congregated for the visit stared with open mouths when they gained access to Onyendu Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and were informed by him that Orji Uzor Kalu had earlier visited him that day.
“I must note that DSS operatives at the Reception Hall were not let in on the surreptitious access that was granted to Orji Uzor Kalu. They did not know when the latter arrived at the facility and when he stole in to see Onyendu. It is for Orji Uzor Kalu to explain honestly how he gained access to Onyendu. If Orji Kalu did not go through the proper channel, which starts from the reception, upon the submission of a list containing the names of already scheduled visitors, how then did he gain access to Onyendu Mazi Nnamdi Kanu? Why was the extant protocols not followed?
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