DSS said the court can't save me - Kanu
Detained leader of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) and
Director of Biafra Radio, Dr Nnamdi Kanu, has said that state security
officials told him that the courts could not save him.
Kanu said through one of his lawyers, Barrister Ifeanyi Ejiofor, that
operatives of the Department of State Security (DSS) told him while he
was in their custody that both the courts in Nigeria and the British
government cannot save him in his bid to regain his freedom.
Kanu, who is facing a six-count treason charge, asserted that he is a
victim of persecution by the Federal Government and its agents which
have continued to violate his human rights through his prolonged
incarceration.
Through one of his lawyers, the IPOB leader expressed his readiness to
face trial, adding that what he wants is a “fair trial and not
persecution.”
In a statement by the counsel, Mr. Ejiofor, which was made available to
The AUTHORITY, Kanu said he was wrongly arrested and detained.
Kanu has already filed a suit before the Economic Community of West
African States (ECOWAS) Court of Justice against the violation of his
rights.
In the fundamental enforcement rights suit he filed before the ECOWAS
Court, Kanu prayed for requisite redress under the African Charter on
Human and Peoples’ Rights and other International Conventions to which
Nigeria is a signatory.
He said: “We were reliably informed by Nnamdi Kanu that his
persecutors told him in the course of their interrogation that even the
British government cannot secure his freedom, as the courts should go
ahead and make orders they like but none would be obeyed,” Ejiofor said.
It was the submissions of his counsel that the unlawful detention of
his client from October 14, 2015 till January 20, 2016, without any
lawful order of the court, and in flagrant disobedience of orders of
courts of competent jurisdiction, all directing for his
unconstitutional release and discharge, amounted to a gross violation
of his fundamental human rights.
Ejiofor, who chronicled all the alleged breaches of Kanu’s
fundamental human rights, recounted that the Chief Magistrates’ Court
in Abuja specified in the First Information Report originally filed
against him, had discharged his client of all bogus and frivolous
allegations against him but “the Department of State Security that
dragged him to court refused to obey the orders of the same court”.
According to the statement: “Recall that on December 29, 2015, during
the Presidential Media Chat, the President told the whole world that
Nnamdi Kanu cannot be granted bail, alleging that he came into the
country without a valid travelling passport. This pronouncement was
roundly condemned by both local and international commentators. His
pronouncement was viewed as a clear usurpation of the functions and
powers of the judiciary.
“Though very regrettable and extremely unfortunate, Nnamdi Kanu was
refused bail on January 29, 2016. In refusing him and other defendants
bail, the court also cited the facts of his possession of dual passports
as a flight risk, and as such held that he cannot be granted bail,” he
said.
This position, according to Ejiofor “was in keeping in line with the
pronouncement of the President of the Federal Republic if Nigeria in his
media chat on December 29, 2015. It is a case of a witch crying in the
night and a baby dying in the morning.
“The same Kanu who has been announced to the whole world to have
sneaked into the country without a valid passport, now has his two
valid passports (British and Nigerian) seized by the operatives of the
DSS.
“A formal application to secure the release of these two passports was
made in open court by Nnamdi Kanu’s defence team in February 9, 2016,
which the learned trial judge in his ruling delivered on that same day
refused to grant. This is a clear indication that Nnamdi Kanu came into
the country with valid travelling passports contrary to the erroneous
views expressed at the media chat.”
The AUTHORITY recalls that Justice John Tsoho had on January 29, denied
bail to Kanu and two other pro-Biafra agitators, Benjamin Madubugwu
and David Nwawuisi, who are facing trial with him. The trio are
answering to a six-count treason charge that was preferred against them
by the federal government.
Kanu, who was hitherto the Director of Radio Biafra and Television,
has been in detention since October 14, 2015, when he was arrested by
security operatives upon his arrival to Nigeria from his base in the
United Kingdom. The defendants were in the charge that was signed by the
Director of Public Prosecution, DPP, Mr. Mohammed Diri, alleged to
have committed treasonable felony, an offence punishable under Section
41(C) of the Criminal Code Act, CAP C38 Laws of the Federation of
Nigeria.
FG alleged that they were the ones managing the affairs of IPOB which
it described as “an unlawful society”. Specifically, Kanu was alleged
to have illegally smuggled radio transmitters into Nigeria, which he
used to disseminate “hate broadcasts”, encouraging the “secession of
the Republic of Biafra”, from Nigeria.
However, the accused persons pleaded not guilty to the charge on
January 20, even as the court ordered their remand at Kuje Prison in
Abuja.
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