IPOB: Kanu’s lawyer calls for British High Commission’s intervention

Special Counsel to Mazi Nnamdi Kanu leader of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Barrister Aloy Ejimakor, said he has been compelled to call on the British High Commission in Nigeria “to banish every red tape and exert the full weight of its diplomatic clout in gaining immediate access to Kanu.”

According Mr Ezimakor in a statement issued in Abuja Monday, “the prompt intervention of the High Commission will mean that Kanu will have another layer of human contact in addition to his legal team who are the only ones currently allowed to see him.”

The legal practitioner also said “contact with his client is important, given the prospects of better welfare, including adequate medical care for Mazi Kanu.”

He, however, expressed reservations over delay by the Department of State Services (DSS) to get the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) to sign two forms relating to affirming his consent to consular and diplomatic interventions by the United Kingdom and the her High Commission in Nigeria.

Ejimakor said the forms were returned to him unsigned noted that last Saturday when he took the forms to the DSS, “the officers on location were amenable to Kanu signing them until somewhere along the line, they tarried and decided to send it to the legal unit for vetting.”

He accused the legal unit of the DSS of disapproving of Kanu signing the forms for reasons that were not given to him.

The statement read in part, “Last Saturday, when I visited Mazi Kanu, I expressed strong concerns about the inordinate delay in having Kanu sign the two forms I had taken to the DSS for Kanu’s signature some days before.

“Both forms relate to affirming his consent to consular and diplomatic interventions by the United Kingdom and the her High Commission in Nigeria.

“Surprisingly, the forms were returned to me unsigned.

Let me make it clear that the day I took the Forms to the DSS, the officers on location were amenable to Kanu signing them until somewhere along the line, they tarried and decided to send it to the legal unit for vetting.

So, my sense is that it’s the legal unit of the DSS that disapproved of Kanu signing the Forms for reasons that were not given to me.

“As a lawyer, I don’t see any legal advantage the government of Nigeria stands to gain by blocking Kanu from signing those Forms. The Forms are but a mere routine in matters like this.

“Instead of any advantage, the refusal will help fuel the notion that the government of Nigeria is deliberately isolating Kanu from having consular and diplomatic access to the United Kingdom.

“It does not comport with the best traditions of fundamental fairness that a detainee is being denied access to resources that will assist him in his defence. This is one of things that will count in our reckoning as this matter continues to fold.”