PRESS STATEMENT IN REBUTTAL OF THE WRONG
NARRATIVE BEING FED THE PUBLIC BY THE
DEPARTMENT OF STATE SERVICES (DSS) VIDE
THEIR SPOKESPERSON:
Our position was to initially ignore the blatantfalsehood deliberately dished out to the Public by
the DSS spokesperson, Mr. Afunanya. But in view of
the damage the intended result will achieve, it is
now compelling that we set the records right.
1) From Mr. Afunanya’s analysis, it is evident that
he is not even familiar with the extant provisions of
the Anti-Torture Act 2017, a law every law
enforcement official/personnel have sworn to
protect.
Our Client - Onyendu Mazi Nnamdi Kanu need not
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, such as- …
(iv) Confinement in solitary cells against their will or
without prejudice to their security."
This very law Mr. Afunanya swore to protect also
prescribes punishment of 25 years imprisonment
upon conviction for personnel of any of the Security
Agency found to be in breach of this Law.
Section 8(1) of the Anti-Torture Act 2017 provides
as follows:
“A person who contravenes section 2 of this Act
commits an offence and is liable on conviction to
imprisonment for a term not exceeding 25 years.”
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 daily solitary
confinement.
2) In his desperate effort to deny the obvious, Mr.
Afunanya stated that our Client is allowed the
opportunity of daily changing of his clothes. This is
a blatant falsehood!
Apart from his lawyers, and persons who have
visited him in custody, this fact can be verified from
a highly respected Man of God, Bishop Sunday
Onuoha who can confirm that on the two occasions
he visited Mazi Nnamdi Kanu at the DSS facility, he
was putting on the same cloth (joggers - up and
down). Our Client has not changed this cloth since
June 2021 he has been in the DSS facility till date.
The Fendi cloth he was putting on at the time he
was abducted in Kenya is the only cloth he has
severally worn to court, the general public can attest
to this fact. This is despite our plea to the
authorities concerned that his clothes should be
changed.
3) It is pertinent to inform the Public at this juncture
that even our Client's family voluntarily bought his
prayer shawls and 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.
Till 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.
4) 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 for well
over 21 times for laboratory examinations but till
date, no solution is in sight. Their trial and errors
has continued unabated.
Is Mr. Afunanya by his position telling us that we,
his Lawyers have no right to inform the public about
the medical state of our Client? The answer is No.
We cannot hide anything from the World, particularly
when it is evident that our Client is being
persecuted for offences he never committed.
5) 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.
It is also important to let the world know that I
personally presented this complaint to the Head of
the Department in charge of his case at the DSS,
but when the situation persisted, we had no option
other than to make it public.
The list is endless, and we put it to Mr. Afunanya to
refute these hard facts.
Recall that at the last adjourned date, I personally
applied to the court to appoint the Counsel for the
Federal Government and I, to embark on an
unscheduled visit to the DSS to see things for
ourselves, but the Assistant State Counsel who
appeared for the prosecution refused, insisting that
he does not want to visit the DSS facility.
We find it very incomprehensible to believe that a
supposedly responsible Agency of the Federal
Government such as the Department of State
Service, notable for their indiscretion to court
pronouncements, instead of taking steps to address
the serious issues we are raising concerning the ill
treatments being meted out to our Client,
deliberately issued a statement fully known to them
to be total falsehood?
If we may ask, what are they trying to achieve by
deceiving the public?
This and many other questions are begging for
answers. Let Mr. Afunanya deal with these
questions.
Thank you all and remain blessed.
Signed:
Ifeanyi Ejiofor, Esq.
Lead Counsel to Mazi Nnamdi Kanu/IPOB
15th December 2021.
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