DSS forced me to make confessional statements under duress, Nnamdi Kanu tells court

Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), says he was threatened by an operative of the Department of State Services (DSS) to make confessional statements after his arrest in 2015.

Kanu spoke on Wednesday after the prosecution called its third witness, simply identified as CCC.

Like the first two witnesses – AAA and BBB – the third witness told the court that he was part of the team of DSS officers who investigated Kanu in 2015.

The witness said he and two other DSS officers interviewed Kanu on October 21, 22, 23 and 24 and also on November 4.

He said the interview was recorded on video, noting that Kanu also wrote statements after every session.

Adegboyega Awomolo, counsel to the federal government, tendered two video compact discs (CDs) containing the interviews and also three copies of statements allegedly written by Kanu.

Although the defence team did not oppose the exhibits at first, Paul Erokoro, one of the senior advocates who spoke on behalf of Kanu, later raised an objection.

Erokoro said Kanu had just informed him that the written statements were made under duress.

The IPOB leader’s counsel told the court that DSS operatives denied the defendant access to his lawyer, threatened to deny him bail and withheld his daily hour of fresh air recommended due to his health condition.

James Omotosho, presiding judge, ordered the conduct of a trial-within-a-trial to ascertain the voluntariness or otherwise of the defendant’s statements.

TRIAL-WITHIN-TRIAL

During the trial-within-a-trial, the DSS witness insisted that Kanu wrote his statement voluntarily.

Erokoro asked the witness if he understood the process of detaining a suspect, knew all the officers at the DSS headquarters, and had contact with Kanu in his cell.

CCC said he never entered Kanu’s cell but knew all the gatekeepers who could interact with the defendant.

Erokoro said, “I put it to you that if any DSS officer named Mr Brown visited the defendant in his cell to threaten him, you won’t know.”

Responding, CCC said the DSS does not operate like that.

During the trial within a trial, Kanu said the coercion by the DSS started from Lagos when his hands and legs were chained, and he was blindfolded and put on a plane.

Kanu added that he did not know where the operatives were taking him after landing in Abuja.

He said the DSS kept him in a solitary confinement with no form of light, adding that a particular Mr Brown, who he said was the assistant director of investigations, threatened him to cooperate during the interview or risk staying in a solitary confinement.

Kanu said due to his poor health and the bad condition of his cell, he started having nosebleeds, which prompted the medical doctor in the facility to advise that he be allowed out of his cell one hour every day for fresh air.

“Mr Brown threatened me that if I don’t do what they ask me, they’re going to stop giving me that one-hour break,” Kanu said through his lawyer.

During cross-examination by the prosecution, Kanu insisted that some of the things he said during the video interview with the DSS operatives played in court had been edited out.

He claimed that the DSS operatives ordered him to write the statements.

After Kanu’s testimony, the trial-within-a-trial was closed.

The judge asked the prosecution and defence teams to adopt their written addresses and file by 9 am on May 29.

The court will also rule on the trial-within-a-trial on Thursday.