A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has dismissed a suit filed by Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), against the federal government and Department of State Services (DSS).
The presiding judge, James Omotosho in a judgment held that Nnamdi Kanu failed to provide credible evidence to back the allegation of violation of his fundamental rights by the defendants.
Justice Omotosho said claims that operatives of the DSS denied Kanu access to his lawyers, and that the officials eavesdropped on his conversations with his lawyers, could not be established.
Kanu joined the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), the DSS and its director-general as 1st to 4th respondents respectively.
He sought “a declaration that the respondents’ act of forcible seizure and photocopying of confidential legal documents pertaining to facilitating the preparation of his defence, which were brought to him at the respondents’ detention facility by his lawyers, amounted to denial of his rights to be defended by legal practitioners of his own choice”.
He also sought a declaration that the respondents’ act of preventing his counsel from taking notes of details of counsel’s professional discussions/consultations with him at the DSS detention facility was unlawful.
