IPOB: "Despite Court Order, DSS Refused To Allow Nnamdi Kanu Change Clothes" - Lawyer

Ifeanyi Ejiofor, counsel for the leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, has complained that the IPOB leader was not allowed to change his clothes by the Department of State Services.

He made the complaint after Kanu was visited by his legal team on Wednesday at the Department of State Services headquarters in Abuja.

The lawyer complained that this was against the Tuesday, January 18, 2022 order by Justice Binta Nyako, asking DSS to allow Nnamdi Kanu to change his clothes.

He said, “Though, for reasons we were not told, the officials of the DSS rejected for the umpteenth time, the change of clothes brought for him.

“We, however, protested against this obvious violation of court order, and insisted on seeing the Head of the appropriate department to lodge our complaint, but Onyendu advised that we should take up the infractions at the appropriate forum in view of the fact that a positive order of the court was flouted.

“Also, forming part of our demand for explanations is the fact that some other guests that visited Onyendu were not hitherto cleared. Onyendu still insisted that this obvious infraction should be addressed at the appropriate forum because it constitutes a violation of the positive order of the court.

“The visit proceeded smoothly and personal notes were taken of Onyendu’s erudite views/contributions towards a successful outing come 16th day of February, 2022.”

It was gathered that despite the order, Kanu, on Wednesday, January 19 appeared before the Federal High Court in Abuja for his trial putting on the same Fendi attire he has been wearing since June last year when he was arrested and arraigned for treasonable felony.

The trial judge, while giving the order said, “I don’t want to see him in this cloth again. This one is almost off-white. Also, make sure that you allow him to exercise and give him a good mattress.”

Meanwhile, when the matter was called up on Wednesday, the prosecution counsel, Shuaibu Labaran, told the court that Kanu was the one that chose to wear the attire.

“My lord, based on your order yesterday, we provided the defendant with a new Orthopaedic mattress, pillows, and blankets.

“As for his appearance, he chose to wear this particular one because he said that it is designers,” the prosecution counsel told the court.

In his response, Kanu’s lead counsel, Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN), told the court that it was not true that his client insisted on wearing his designers clothes, adding that at the end of proceedings on Tuesday, and, “because it was not his visiting day, we were not able to send some clothes we obtained for him.

“We even discussed it with him this morning and he said that on the next visiting day, he would want to have the new clothes,” Ozekhome told the court.