TheCable

Ifeanyi Ejiofor, counsel to Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), says the separatist leader has not been allowed to change clothes since he was arrested and detained in the custody of the Department of States Services (DSS). 

In a statement issued on Thursday and jointly signed by Ejiofor and Aloy Ejimakor, the lawyers said despite a court order, Kanu has been subjected to harsh, degrading and inhumane treatment in the DSS custody.

The lawyers said those who visit Kanu in custody are subsequently detained as punishment for exchanging pleasantries with the IPOB leader.

“He is solitarily confined to a very tiny cell twenty-three (23) hours of the day without access to sunlight and any social interactions whatsoever. He believes that this is aimed at inflicting extreme emotional and mental distress on him and breaking him psychologically,” the statement reads.

“Any detainee who encounters and greets him during the single hour he is allowed outside his cell is promptly put in solitary confinement or transferred to maximum security as a punishment for exchanging mere greetings with him. Because of this, detainees have resorted to avoiding him and exchanging salutations with him, not to talk of any other form of social interactions.

“Since the Nigerian government extraordinarily renditioned him, he has not been allowed a change of clothing; and his Jewish prayer shawls and other religious materials brought to him by his Counsel were rejected and returned.

“The DSS has refused to replace his corrective glasses (lenses) which were smashed to smithereens by agents of the Nigerian government in the process of the violence they unleashed on him while abducting him in Kenya. This has led to a rapid deterioration of his sight.

“He is restricted to meeting with his Counsel in an atmosphere devoid of private discussions with his Counsel; and he is oftentimes denied perusal of legal documentation his Counsel brings to him to review.

“He is not allowed to sleep with a pillow and this has led to him developing acid reflux which comes with acute burning sensations in his chest, chest pains and extreme difficulty in swallowing.

“The DSS has denied his repeated requests for an independent medical examination to determine the extent of damage done to his body by a suspected substance he may have been injected with during this abduction and extraordinary rendition. He has reason to believe that the said injected substance is depleting the potassium content of his body, thus causing him constipation, a feeling of skipped heartbeats, palpitations, fatigue, muscle weakness/spasms and numbness.”