The Department of State Services (DSS) has yet again defied court order by preventing the family of the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, from seeing him yesterday.
Kanu’s younger brother, Prince Emmanuel Kanu, told journalists on phone from the Abuja headquarters of the DSS that he was worried that he came to see his brother but was not allowed to see him, contrary to a subsisting court order.
He said what happened yesterday was a repeat of the same act the DSS did last Thursday, making it the second time within the past five days that he made efforts to see the IPOB leader at his place of detention, but was denied access.
The separatist leader is being tried for alleged treason by the federal government, but the court has ordered that Kanu’s family and his lawyer should be allowed to see him twice a week, specifically on Mondays and Thursdays.
Emmanuel said the flimsy excuses the DSS gave for denying him access to his brother has triggered the alarm bell that the IPOB leader might not be in good health, and his detainers are trying to hide it for whatever reason.
According to him, “It goes to show that Kanu’s life is in grave danger,” insisting that “it remains the order of the court that Kanu (IPOB leader) must be seen twice weekly, Mondays and Thursday.”
He challenged the DSS to prove that Kanu is still alive and in good health by allowing access to him as directed by a court, as every institution, group and individual are bound to obey court orders to avoid creating a society of anarchy.
In his reaction to the DSS flagrant disobedience to the court order, Kanu’s special counsel, Mr. Aloy Ejimakor, took to his Twitter handle to condemn the action, and demanded explanations from the secret police.
“Last Thursday, we were not allowed visitation to Onyendu (leader) because, according to DSS, the ‘special squad’ in charge of visitations went on ‘outside assignment’,” he lamented.
Ejimakor stated that it was the same DSS that “asked us to come back on Monday (today). Today, we are at the DSS office, and they are telling us the same thing. We won’t agree!”
Apart from raising issues with visitation to the detained IPOB leader, the DSS has also raised dust over the clothes he should wear under their custody.
Kanu’s counsel, Mike Ozekhome (SAN), had during the IPOB leader’s court appearance on February 16, 2022, brought it to the judicial notice of the trial Judge, Justice Binta Nyako, that the DSS had, contrary to his earlier order, refused to allow Kanu change clothes.
In its defence, the DSS claimed that the traditional Igbo ‘Isi Agu’ clothes brought to the IPOB leader were offensive and could not be allowed on him.