Officials of the Department of State Services on Monday reportedly barred lawyers to the detained leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, from meeting him in custody.
This was made known on Monday in an interview session by the special counsel for the embattled IPOB leader, Aloy Ejimakor.
According to him, the secret police also prevented the lawyers from meeting Kanu last Thursday, an act Ejimakor said was in contravention of the order of Justice Binta Nyako of a Federal High Court in Abuja that Kanu have access to his lawyers twice a week – Mondays and Thursdays.
Ejimakor said, “Last Thursday, we were not allowed visitation with Onyendu because, according to DSS, the “special squad” in charge of visitations went on “outside assignment”. They asked us to come on Monday (today).
“Today, we‘re at DSS. They’re telling us the same thing. We disagree.”
Kanu, 54, was born on September 25, 1967, at Afaraukwu, Abia State.
The secessionist leader is a holder of Nigerian and British passports. He had earlier jumped bail in June 2018 before leaving for the United Kingdom though he said that he fled because his life was no longer safe in Nigeria.
After about three years abroad, the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), at a press briefing in Abuja on June 29, 2021, announced that the IPOB leader was re-arrested in a foreign country and extradited to Nigeria.
But one of Kanu’s lawyers, Ejiofor Ifeanyi, had said the IPOB leader was re-arrested in Kenya and whisked to Nigeria.
Upon his re-arrest and extradition in June 2021, he was re-arraigned before Justice Nyako for terrorism-related charges and has since been remanded in the DSS custody in Abuja.
Justice Nyako had on Tuesday adjourned the trial of Kanu to April 8, 2022.