Nnamdi Kanu’s lawyer, Ifeanyi Ejiofor has decried that the Department of State Services has moved the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, out of their facility in Abuja and denied him access to him for the past eight days.
As a result, he urged Justice Binta Nyako to grant the request of his client seeking to be transferred from the DSS custody to the Kuje Correctional Centre in Abuja.
Ejiofor also asked the judge to grant the OPB leader access to his medical doctor for the purpose of carrying out a comprehensive independent medical examination on him.
According to him, the defendant cannot get a fair trial if he remains in the custody of the DSS.
“As far as we are concerned, Nigeria’s image in the international community has been damaged,” Ejiofor told pressmen.
“You don’t go to a foreign land and kidnap somebody.
“If the person has committed an offence, you subject him to extradition proceedings, instead of smuggling him through extraordinary rendition.”
He continued:
“I complained about the way and manner we see him (Nnamdi Kanu).
“For the past eight days, we have not seen him.
“And only yesterday (Sunday), we heard he has been taken away from Abuja.
“We complained to the court. We cannot confirm his present state of health. So, the court has to intervene and give a directive to the detention authority, i.e the DSS that we should have access to him on specified date. That has been agreed, and we are going to see him any moment from now.”
However, the trial judge, Justice Binta Nyako noted that the case could not go on in the absence of the Defendant.
“I am also worried why the Defendant is not here. The first step in a criminals matter is to provide the Defendant in court. He is not here.
Though Justice Nyako acknowledged that she could not proceed with the case without Fiat allowing her to sit as a vacation judge, she made an order, directing the DSS to grant Kanu access to his lawyers.
The judge also ordered that Kanu must be produced before the court on October 21 which is the next adjourned date for the matter.
