IPOB wants to know why DSS shields Nnamdi Kanu from his lawyers

Members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) have reacted to the allegation by Nnamdi Kanu’s lawyers that operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) barred them from visiting the leader of the group in their custody.

Kanu, who has been in the custody of the DSS since he was rearrested in Kenya four years after jumping bail is currently standing trial on charges bordering on treasonable felony and terrorism.

But on Monday, February 21, 2022, Aloy Ejimakor, Special counsel for the embattled IPOB leader alleged that DSS operatives had twice barred lawyers from visiting Kanu in their custody.

According to him, the action of the DSS contravened the order of Justice Binta Nyako of a Federal High Court in Abuja that Kanu should have access to his lawyers on Mondays and Thursdays.

Reacting to this, IPOB in a statement by its Media and Publicity Secretary, Emma Powerful on Tuesday, February 22, 2022, said it was not sure if Kanu is still alive.

While asking the DSS to open up on its reason for shielding the IPOB leader from his family and lawyers, the secessionist group wondered if the agency had eliminated their leader.

The statement reads: “Our attention has been drawn to the refusal by the DSS in Abuja to allow family members and lawyer to our leader, Nnamdi Kanu, during routine visitation in the DSS custody on Monday.

“We also recall that the DSS did not also allow family members and lawyers access to our leader last Thursday when they went to see him. Our legal team visited the DSS office in Abuja on Thursday last week, but the DSS refused to allow them to see our leader. Again, on Monday, they denied them access to our leader.

“For now we are not sure of his state of health, if he is still alive at all. The DSS should open up and tell the world why they are shielding our leader from the family and lawyers. Have they eliminated him?

“We are informing the international community and all diplomatic missions in Abuja to be aware of the provocative actions of the DSS. Nobody should blame IPOB for anything, because the Federal Government and its security agencies have pushed us to the wall enough.”

It would be recalled that during the hearing of Kanu’s case at the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja last week, Chief Mike Ozekhome, the lead counsel to the detained IPOB leader told the court that Kanu’s sight was deteriorating because the DSS officers seized his eye-glasses.

Ozekhome said that the IPOB leader may go blind if nothing was done urgently to restore his sight.