Ifeanyi Ejiofor, the lawyer to Nnamdi Kanu, the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has berated the Department of State Service, DSS, for allowing Senator Orji Uzor Kalu access to the pro-Biafra activist.
According to the IPOB lawyer, granting the former Abia State governor access to his client was against court guidelines.
www.tracknews.ng recall that the Chief Whip of the Nigerian Senate made public details of his discussion with Kanu after a meeting between the duo in DSS custody.
Kalu had said his visit to the office of the secret police was to encourage the embattled Biafran agitator to consider the consequences of certain actions and utterances for the sake of the Igbo people.
The senator said though his ideology and Kanu’s are on different clock hands, he will not stop to advise the agitator as a brother.
“Even though, my ideology and his ideology are totally different, God has made us brothers and we can’t run away from each other. I owe him and Nigerians good counselling. Whether he and his family listens to me or not, I will continue counseling him as I have always done in the past. What we need most is a peaceful and secured society,” Kalu wrote in a post on Facebook.
Reacting in a statement, Ejiofor slammed the DSS for allowing a serving senator access “even before the time scheduled for the formal visit and without his lawyers being present during the visit.”
The lawyer said: “Our client continues to admonish for peaceful co-existence of UmuChineke, unflinching support and unshaken loyalty.
“We can at best describe what transpired yesterday between a visitor whom the detaining authority ostensibly aided to violate the court-ordered guideline for visiting our Client as bizarre and unusual.
“The DSS is not oblivious of the terms of the court’s guideline which they have consistently maintained in the past that it must be obeyed to the letter, and through which position they had denied many friends and Attorneys of our Client, access to him.
“However, caution was thrown to the wind yesterday and instead of insisting on this full compliance with the existing guideline, the DSS for reasons best known to them allowed a visitor access to our Client even before the time scheduled for the formal visit and without his lawyers being present during the visit.
“It is of serious concern that the visit was conducted without strict adherence to the court ordered guideline, but more condescending that the visit later became a subject of political gimmicks. If we Our client’s Attorneys, his flesh and blood brothers, and his wife will visit him in due compliance with the court ordered guideline, how can the DSS authorise a visit from any other person in gross violation of this guideline?
“There is more to it than meets the eyes, which the DSS is now under a compelling duty to explain to us. Granted that his name appeared among the list submitted at the 11th hour alongside the names of the lawyers scheduled for the visit, but hurriedly proceeding to conduct the visit without us being present in line with the requirement of the guideline left us with many unanswered questions.”
The IPOB lawyer stated that a formal process has been initiated towards ensuring a thorough investigation of what transpired.
Ejiofor added that they will not hesitate to formally address the world on the subject if there is any attempt to sweep the petition under the carpet.
“The Order of the court and terms as laid down guideline, to regulate visits to our Client is to ensure his maximum protection from persons who may wish to secretly seize the opportunity to hurt or intimidate him into accepting a false narrative outside the dungeon where he is being illegally detained, and they could achieve this through threats and/or coercion. Hence, the need for the presence of his lawyers before granting any audience.
“We may not wish to speak further on this subject or even discuss our Client’s position on this visit pending the outcome of investigation on the DSS authorised violation of the court ordered guideline.
“In as much as we have unequivocally demanded for an immediate investigation, we are not by any means insinuating that visitors of our client’s choice are not permitted or restrained from visiting him henceforth, but our position,” Nnamdi Kanu’s lawyer added.
