She was said to have been consequently detained at the IRT’s dreaded abattoir facility.

A statement issued by Ifeanyi Ejiofor, the Head of the legal team of the detained leader of Indigenous People of Biafra, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, said following the application for the enforcement of her fundamental human rights filed on her behalf before a Federal High Court in Abuja, “she was hurriedly charged to court on frivolous and smokescreen charge by the infamous IRT.”

He said, “This step was clearly targeted at truncating the Fundamental Human Rights suit we filed to compel her release.Nevertheless, the long arm of the law has finally caught up with those monsters in uniform as the Federal High Court proceeded to hear our suit on the merit and consequently, directed for her unconditional release.Damages were equally awarded against the suspended DCP Abba Kyari together with his disbanded outfit, for the gross violation of Mrs. Ezediaro’s fundamental rights.The Federal High Court seized the frivolous charge brought against her and equally granted her bail on our application.

Today, Mrs. Ezedalor has finally regained her freedom and presently walks the street a free person.

“Be assured Umuchineke, that we are vigorously pursuing the bail applications of every other person(s) arrested and detained in similar circumstances and they shall all regain their freedom in due course.My team and I shall stop at nothing to ensure that all Umuchineke arrested and still detained at various detention facilities of the Nigerian Security agencies are released. Chukwuokike Abiama is always on the throne.”

In a press statement on Wednesday, Ejiofor said his client is tortured mentally and psychologically on a daily basis in detention.

Contrary to claims by DSS’ spokesperson, Dr Peter Afunanya, the IPOB lawyer claimed that Kanu is subjected to 23 hours of daily solitary confinement.

Ejiofor in a statement titled, ‘Press statement in rebuttal of the wrong narrative being fed the public by the DSS vides their spokesperson’, said Kanu is not also allowed to change his outfit since he was repatriated from Kenya.

Part of the statement read, “Our client – Onyendu Mazi Nnamdi Kanu needs not to be subjected to daily beatings and flogging by the personnel of the DSS before he can be qualified as being tortured – No! Section 2(b)(iv) of the Anti-Torture Act 2017, defined torture to include: (b) Mental or psychological torture, which is understood as referring to such cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment calculated to affect or confuse the mind or undermine a person’s dignity and morale. We were unable to find in any place throughout his statement where Mr Afunanya clearly denied the fact that our client – Onyendu Mazi Nnamdi Kanu is not subjected to 23 hours of daily solitary confinement. In his desperate effort to deny the obvious, Mr Afunanya stated that our client is allowed the opportunity to daily change his clothes. This is a blatant falsehood! Our client has not changed this cloth since June 2021 he has been in the DSS facility to date.it is pertinent to inform the public at this juncture that even our client’s family voluntarily bought his prayer shawls and the holy book, which items meant for prayers were submitted for the detaining authority’s scrutiny but they vehemently rejected the items and consequently returned them to us, insisting that they will procure the said items for him. To date, the DSS has woefully failed and/or refused to provide our client with these items, even when the Court recently ordered that our Client be allowed to practice his religion. The fact that our client’s potassium level is depleted, which is a serious medical condition that the medical department of the DSS is struggling day and night to address is beyond denial. Onyendu’s blood sample has been drawn well over 21 times for laboratory examinations but to date, no solution is in sight. Their trial and error have continued unabated. To be very fair to the DSS, from June 2021 when our client was taken into custody up until 10th November 2021, when he was openly threatened in court by one of the DSS personnel that escorted him to court, our client never complained to us that he was either being poorly fed or starved. However, since that officer boasted in open court that he would deal with Onyendu during the altercation, which threat was captured in a short clip, they started feeding him with poorly prepared food, and later graduated to starving him. If they have reverted back to status quo, it may be after we raised alarm, but this is still subject to confirmation.”

Kanu’s lead lawyers, Ifeanyi Ejiofor and Aloy Ejimakor made the allegation in a statement jointly signed yesterday, Nov. 18.

The IPOB leader’s counsel said Kanu instructed them to make the statement public.

The statement titled, “Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s detention condition at the DSS amounts to torture” says: “That despite a court order to the contrary, the condition of his detention at the DSS headquarters in Abuja continues to be harsh, degrading and inhumane. That 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. That 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. That 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. That 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. That 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. That 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. That on the 17th July 2021, one of his lawyers (the undersigned Barrister Aloy Ejimakor) was detained and interrogated for hours by the DSS when he came to the DSS on visitation to Mazi Nnamdi Kanu. Mazi Kanu, who witnessed the detention before being led away, was very distressed and alarmed by this incident and he considers it a brazen act of intimidation of his counsel. That he has, to date, been denied access to the British Consul despite his repeated requests to see him; and on the day of his last court appearance (10th November 2021), the British Consul who was in court to observe the proceedings was intimidated by DSS officers, who restricted him from coming close to Mazi Kanu. That, to date, 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. That is the circumstance of the forgoing, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu continues to have a persistent and heightened feeling of portent threat to his overall well-being and safety within the DSS facility where he is currently detained.”

Also barred from the courtroom include journalists, Igbo traditional leaders, as well as observers and activists.

But other lawyers of Kanu including Ifeanyi Ejiofor and Aloy Ejimakor were allowed inside the courtroom.

Justice Binta Nyako had adjourned Kanu’s trial to today.

Kanu is facing terrorism-related charges and has since been detained in the custody of the Department of State Services since his re-arrest from a foreign country in June 2021.

He had pleaded not guilty to seven charges at his last appearance in court on October 21.

The Media and Publicity Secretary of the secessionist group, Emma Powerful, said this in a statement made available to our correspondent in Awka, Anambra State.

He gave the names of the lawyers as Ifeanyi Ejiofor and Aloy Ejimakor.

The IPOB publicist said, “We wish to put the whole world on notice about the wicked plot by the frustrated government of Nigeria to secretly eliminate our resilient lawyers, Ifeanyi Ejiofor and Aloy Ejimakor, over their committed efforts in the defence of our leader. The Nigerian government is not happy with the expertise and professional prowess of these veteran lawyers and other members of the legal team to deflate the fabricated charges against our leader, hence, their plot to eliminate them. Intelligence report at our disposal also indicates that this covert plan extends to the elimination of Mazi Benjamin Madubugwu, Bright Ishinwa, Chidiebere Onwudiwe and David Nwawuisi. Several state coordinators are also on their elimination list, handed down by the Nigerian government to its security agencies. The Nigerian government intends to carry out this targeted elimination through the security personnel deployed in the South-East under the guise of Operation Golden Dawn to do the dirty job. The compromised security agents have decided to eliminate Nnamdi Kanu’s lawyers once they step into any part of the South-East. The world should hold Nigeria Government responsible should anything happen to our lawyers and any of those listed above. This is not the first time such an evil plot would be hatched against them as Ejiofor has severally escaped assassination attempts on his life by these same Nigerian security operatives. His attackers had twice set his home on fire. The world must take note and pay attention to the atrocities being committed in Biafra land by the Nigerian government.”

The statement added that IPOB was bringing the plot of the Nigerian government to the attention of the international community.

In July, the IPOB leader asked to be moved to the prison, alleging that he had been “subjected to mental and psychological torture” by the Department of State Services (DSS).

At the court session on Thursday, October 21, Kanu pleaded not guilty to an amended seven-count charge bordering on treasonable felony and terrorism preferred against him by the federal government.

Ifeanyi Ejiofor, his lead counsel, asked the court to transfer him from the custody of the DSS to Kuje prison.

The presiding judge, Justice Binta Nyako, refused the application and adjourned the case till November 10.

The lawyer also condemned the “inhumane treatment and degradation” of veteran actor, Chiwetalu Agu, by security agencies, saying the actor has not been granted access to his lawyers.

Ejiofor demanded the immediate release of Agu from the custody of the Department of State Services, saying Igbo lawyers “shall take appropriate steps permissible under our laws, to ensure that such occurrence is nipped in the bud.

The Army in a statement had said that the actor was arrested “while inciting members of the public and soliciting for support for the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra.”

The Army had also said the actor “dressed in a very well-known attire of the proscribed group”, adding that he was being questioned.

In a viral video, Agu had denied the allegations, saying his attire was a civil dress with an image of a rising sun and not Biafra.

“I was sharing 10,000 worth of bread when he (soldier) came, no campaign, nobody was doing any demonstration or carrying people along. Even people who were hawking, I was giving them bread,” the actor had added.

The Army subsequently handed over the actor to the DSS on Friday.

DSS Spokesman, Peter Afunanya, who confirmed that Agu is in the custody of the secret police, said the law would take its full course.

Reacting, however, in a statement on Saturday, the IPOB leader’s counsel condemned the arrest of the Nollywood actor, alleging that the true motive of ‘Exercise Golden Dawn’ launched on Monday by the 302 Artillery Regiment General Support in the South-East was being uncovered.

Ejiofor’s statement was titled, ‘Arrest of Chief Chiwetalu Agu by lawless Nigerian soldiers, release, and subsequent re-arrest by the operatives of the Department of State Security Service (DSS) and his continued illegal detention without access to his lawyers and relatives.

“It is worthy to note that the suspected motives behind the real mission of these untamed soldiers who are presently occupying our land under the guise of ‘Operation Golden Dawn’ is being uncovered, and will be ultimately uncovered in the coming days,” he said.

Ifeanyi Ejiofor, the lead counsel for the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu

“Hear it today, that this is another round of ‘Operation Python Dance’ in disguise. There is no illusion about this.

“Intelligence available to us is irresistibly alluding to the fact that some prominent persons from this side of the divide, ostensibly those not in the good books of the Establishment are on the radar of these invaders, waiting to be whisked away at any slightest opportunity, during this coded operation and under the guise of providing security.”

Ejiofor also said that he has intelligence advice to stay away from the South-East “pending when the dust settles because they can do and undo”.

He advised his “brothers and sisters” to be law-abiding and apply caution and restrain.

“Hence, I am most candidly advising our dear brothers and sisters to thread with utmost caution during this trying period. Please do not take any opportunity for granted, as these untamed men are here on a special mission,” he said.

He said this in a statement titled, ‘Update on today’s (September 23 2021) visit to our indefatigable client – Onyendu Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.’

Ejiofor said “We implore you all to continue to pray for him even as you remain unshaken in your support and prayers, as you have always shown within the confines of the law. Onyendu is very much strong in spirit and firm in his convictions. You will see him soon. We shall continue to provide regular updates as the event unfolds. Thank you all and remain blessed, Umuchineke. I had an extensive interaction/chat with our indefatigable Client- Onyendu Mazi Nnamdi Kanu during our today’s routine visit to the National Headquarters of the Department of State Security Services. The strides so far recorded on our part is seemingly impressive though may remain unnoticed to undiscerning minds, and he welcomed every strategy being adopted by our team, as well as the coordinating efforts of all lawyers participating in this case, including those in the diaspora. He was also briefed on the inability of the Federal Government (FG) to file a response to his fundamental rights suit pending before the Umuahia High Court. An action substantially challenging among others, was the unlawful but bloody invasion of his home on September 14 2017 by the Nigerian security agencies. The FG’s reason(s) for avoiding the court, though not far fetched may not be unconnected to their inability to offer an explanation on their monstrous and bloody invasion of Onyendu Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s residence on September 14 2017, wherein over 28 innocent civilians were murdered in cold blood by the invading Nigerian Soldiers, and properties worth billions of Naira consequently destroyed in the process. Thankfully, the world is paying deserving attention to the gross human rights violations as it affects our client, as well as the continued onslaught on unarmed civilians being labelled as members of IPOB. It is on record, that by the ruling of Justice Nyako delivered in 2017, His Lordship while ruling on our application, held that IPOB is not an unlawful organization. This ruling of the court was not appealed against, neither was it set aside by any superior court. We are not relenting in our efforts to ensure that justice is done to our client, he will be freed and in no distant time, because he has committed no offence known to law. He is at best, a political prisoner. Nevertheless, victory will be ours in the end. Onyendu was very much overwhelmed to receive the report on the overwhelming solidarity and unwavering support so far shown by millions of his supporters. Peaceful conduct of his fans was also relayed to him and he encouraged all and sundry to be United in one peaceful solidarity.”

Kanu’s lead counsel, Ifeanyi Ejiofor, said the DSS prevented him and IPOB’s Attorney in the United States, Bruce Fein, from having access to the detained IPOB leader on Thursday, September 2.

In a statement he signed on Friday, September 3, Ejiofor described the alleged action of the DSS as a violation of the order of an Abuja Federal High Court which allowed Kanu access to his lawyers twice a week.

The statement reads: “Yesterday Court ordered visit to Our Client- Onyendu Mazi Nnamdi Kanu was aborted by the officials of the State Security Services on a reason we find extremely ridiculous. Following the arrival of Mr Bruce Fein, a foremost American trained Constitutional Law Lawyer and IPOB’s Attorney in the United States of America, the game obviously took an interesting twist. Despite our formal notification to the Service, in line with the existing protocol, and in compliance with the Court-Ordered guideline, the officials of the Department of State Security Services came up with an excuse, ‘that the person assigned to receive us during yesterday’s visit was on A SPECIAL ASSIGNMENT’, and as such, the visit cannot be conducted. This is not only ridiculous but a clear violation of the Court Order on guidelines for visiting our Client- Onyendu Mazi Nnamdi Kanu”

In an interview with newsmen recently, Ejiofor said efforts are being made to get Kanu out of detention. According to him, there were no strong allegations to convict Kanu.

He said “We’re in high spirit that Mazi Nnamdi Kanu will soon come out of detention sooner than expected, and better too. It’s one thing for allegations to be made, it’s another thing to establish it. But I don’t think there’s anything strong enough to convict him. There’s no cause for worry. His health is improving. Only that he has not been allowed access to his family, particularly his wife and children, which I see as another level of mental torture. But we’re doing all we can to ensure he’s transferred to the appropriate custodian pending when his trial commences. We’re also making efforts to get medical experts to ensure his health gets stable”