feanyi Ejiofor, lead counsel to the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, on Friday alleged that he was denied access to his client who is in the custody of the Department of State Services (DSS).
Ejiofor, in a statement on his verified Facebook page, said he and IPOB’s lawyer in the United States of America, Mr Bruce Fein, were on Thursday denied access to Kanu despite a formal notice to the Service in line with the existing protocol and in compliance with a court order.
According to Ejiofor, they were told by the DSS that the person assigned to receive them during the visit was on a special assignment, hence it could not hold.
The statement reads: “Yesterday’s court ordered visit to our client, Onyendu Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, was aborted by officials of the State Security Services on a reason we find extremely ridiculous.
“Following the arrival of Mr. Bruce Fein, a foremost American trained Constitutional Law lawyer and IPOB’s Attorney in the United States of America, the game obviously took an interesting twist.
“Despite our formal notification to the Service in line with the existing protocol and in compliance with the Court-Ordered guideline, the officials of the Department of State Security Services came up with an excuse, that ‘the person assigned to receive us during yesterday’s visit was on A SPECIAL ASSIGNMENT”, and as such, the visit cannot be conducted’.
This is not only ridiculous but a clear violation of the Court Order on guideline for visiting our Client- Onyendu Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.
“For the records, we have been consistently visiting Our Client on the specified days and time of the week, and there hasn’t been any time we were denied access to him on the ground that an individual assigned to receive us was not available.
“Needless to mention that no one individual has been specifically assigned to receive us on any of the visits. They are fully aware that the visit takes place every Monday and Thursday.
“Thankfully, we have another date for Monday, and we do hope that this individual will be available on Monday to receive us, whilst we have taken steps to formally bring this latest infraction to the attention of the Court.”
“We will continue to update you all, while we continue to urge for your relentless prayers and understanding. We are winning, you can be assured. Thank you all and remain blessed.”
Public Relations Officer of the Service, Dr Peter Afunanya, had not responded to an enquiry on the matter at the time of filing this report.
