Aloy Ejimakor, the Lead Counsel to Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, on Friday, accused the Department of State Services, DSS, of hindering and frustrating the Biafra agitator’s right to a fair trial ahead of his next court appearance.
Ejimakor said DSS operatives disobeyed court orders by insisting that Kanu’s lawyers see him separately in its holding facility in Abuja.
He explained that DSS’s insistence prevented Kanu’s legal team from seeing him in preparation for his next court appearance on June 19.
In a statement he signed, Ejimakor said: “As the next hearing or trial of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s case scheduled for 19th and 20th June 2024 looms close, the State Security Services (DSS) continues on its infamous path of frustrating every prospect of a fair trial for Mazi Kanu.
“Today, being 14th June 2024, the DSS once again exhibited its vested disrespect for judicial pronouncements when it (in disobedience of court order) refused Mazi Kanu’s legal team to meet with him as a team (or together) to prepare him for the said hearing/trial, commencing on 19th June.
“The DSS insisted that members of the legal team (including the undersigned Counsel) must meet with Mazi Kanu separately or we must leave the premises. For this reason, Mazi Kanu’s team of lawyers left the DSS facility without seeing him, a situation that will surely complicate the hearing on 19th June.
“This latest disobedience of a subsisting court order by the DSS is symbolic of what has become an executive self-indictment of the trial that the government itself and the Court insist must take place.
“If they do not obey a simple court order that is directly geared to giving them the trial they so much desire, why then is the AGF still bent on prosecuting the case? Are we to believe that it is only a sham trial that they secretly desire? To be sure, it is impossible to prosecute a case without having the ingredients of a fair hearing in place.
“These antics are further evidence that the case against Mazi Kanu has no merit, hence the reason every avenue for a fair hearing is being blocked. If the AGF through the DSS are apprehensive of the full consequences of a fair trial, then they need to do the needful by discontinuing this case without further ado. Otherwise, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and his legal team will resist any trial that is against the tenets of the Constitution.”
DSS frustrating, hindering Nnamdi Kanu’s right to fair trial – Lawyer Ejimakor