A Federal High Court in Abuja, has warned Adeola Ajayi, the Director-General of the Department of State Services (DSS), to comply with a court order granting Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), access to his lawyers.
Kanu has been in DSS custody since 2021, facing a seven-count charge of treasonable felony.
The court ordered the DSS to allow Kanu’s lawyers to visit him on “Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays,” with no more than five persons present.
However, the DSS has repeatedly denied the legal team access, prompting the court to issue a “Form 48 Notice of Consequences of Disobedience to the Order of Court” against Ajayi.
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The notice reads, “Take notice that unless you obey the directions contained in this order… by allowing the applicant’s counsel to conduct the court-ordered visitations with the applicant… you will be guilty of contempt of court and will be liable to be committed to prison.”
Aloy Ejimakor, counsel to Kanu, stated that if Ajayi disobeys the court order, the defense team will file contempt charges.
“This notice is necessitated by the repeated disobedience of the court-ordered visitation of Mazi Kanu… who has, for almost a month, not allowed Mazi Kanu’s lawyers to visit him,” Ejimakor said.
Ejimakor emphasized that the notice is a quasi-criminal judicial process warning of penal consequences for disobeying the court order.
He added, “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.”
