Aloy Ejimakor, the Special Counsel for the embattled leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, has said the Department of State Services refused to allow him to see his client on Thursday.
Ejimakor, who spoke to our correspondent on the telephone, said his team was frustrated by the DSS and sent out of the premises.
He said the British consul was also going through the same treatment, adding that the foreign official had been calling him for updates on Kanu’s well-being.
Narrating his experience at the DSS office on Thursday, the lawyer said after the agency failed to produce Kanu in court for trial on Monday; the judge ordered that his lawyers should be allowed to see him on Thursday.
Ejimakor said he arrived on the DSS premises with another colleague around 2pm.
He said, “When we got to the reception area, I filled in two names – myself and Barrister Chinwe. They called the principal staff officer in charge of the case on the telephone. He told me on the phone to get a letter, stating the names of the two lawyers that would see Kanu. I told him that I already wrote two names on the paper, but he insisted that we should write a formal letter. He said it would be better on our firm’s letterhead.
“We went to our office and prepared the letter as the DSS instructed; we took it back to the office and submitted it and they said we should wait at the reception.
“About 15 minutes later, they called us and said they had taken the letter inside and we should go; that they would contact us. We asked when, but they said we should just go.”
The lawyer also said the British High Commission had been calling him for updates on the condition of the IPOB leader, adding that the officials were also facing frustration from the DSS.
“Even the British consul contacted me to ask me if I saw him today (Thursday) and I relayed to her what I just told you. She expressed concern and she was not happy about it either. The British High Commission is undergoing the same frustration that we are undergoing. If the high commission is not frustrated, they have no business contacting me all the time to ask how he is doing. Their frequent contact with me shows they are concerned and it shows the frustration at their end. The Nigerian government and its DSS have created stonewall against Kanu’s lawyers and the British high commission,” he added.
Ejimakor promised to visit the court on Friday (today) to inform the vacation judge of the challenges in seeing Kanu and seek an extraordinary order against the DSS.
‘Kanu renounced Nigerian citizenship in 2015’
Meanwhile, Ifeanyi Ejiofor, the lead counsel for Kanu, says his client followed all the constitutional guidelines in renouncing his Nigerian citizenship.
Recall that Ejiofor had stated during the Morning Show programme on Arise Television on Wednesday that as of the time Kanu was arrested, he was s a British citizen since he had renounced his Nigeria citizenship five years ago.
While responding to questions by our correspondent on the issues raised in the interview, Ejiofor said, “My client, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, followed the constitutional procedural guideline in renouncing his Nigerian citizenship. He announced it to the world, which I believe that 70 per cent of Nigerians will be willing to do if opportunity is available to them today. All communications were forwarded to the Nigerian Government in this regard. They are not denying it.”
Ejiofor stated that ever since his client renounced his Nigerian citizenship, he had not travelled to Nigeria.
Ejiofor also stated that the Department of State Services had denied him access to his client.
The lawyer made this known in a statement titled, ‘Update,’ issued on Thursday.
He said, “The DSS for the umpteenth time denied us access to our client today, insisting that our request would be looked into and accordingly approved by their DG before we could be granted access to him.” (Punch)
