A federal high court in Abuja has cautioned Adeola Ajayi, the director-general (DG) of the Department of State Services (DSS), against defying the court’s order for Nnamdi Kanu’s visitation rights.
Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), has been held in DSS custody since his re-arrest in Kenya and extradition to Nigeria in 2021.
He is facing trial on a seven-count charge, including treasonable felony.
Kanu’s legal team has repeatedly accused the DSS of denying its members access to their client.
The court had directed the DSS to allow Kanu’s legal team, with a maximum of five people, to visit him on designated days.
On Friday, the registrar of the federal high court in Abuja issued “form 48 notice of consequences of disobedience to the order of court” against DSS director-general.
The notice warned the DSS boss that he would be guilty of contempt of court and would be liable to imprisonment if he disobeyed the court-ordered visitations.
“Take notice that unless you obey the directions contained in this order (see overleaf), by allowing the applicant’s counsel to conduct the court-ordered visitations with the applicant on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, you will be guilty of contempt of court and will be liable to be committed to prison,” the notice reads.
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In a statement on Friday, Aloy Ejimakor, counsel to the IPOB leader, said if Ajayi disobeyed the court order, the defence team would file contempt charges against him.
“This notice is necessitated by the repeated disobedience of the court-ordered visitation of Mazi Kanu by the newly appointed Director-General of the State Security Services (Mr. Adeola Oluwatosin Ajayi), who has, for almost a month, not allowed Mazi Kanu’s lawyers to visit him,” the statement reads.
“To be clear, this notice is a quasi-criminal judicial process that forewarns any person disobeying a court order of the penal consequences of such misconduct.
“Therefore, if the Director-General of DSS persists on this ignoble path, he will leave us with no other option than to commence vigorous contempt proceedings against him.”
