The legal team of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, has requested the court to summon the Director General of the Department of State Services (DSS), Yusuf Magaji Bichi, over allegations of disobeying court orders.
A Federal High Court had directed the DSS to provide Kanu’s lawyers with a facility to prepare for his defense in charge No: FHC/ABJ/CR/383/2015.
Justice B.F.M. Nyako, on May 20, while rejecting Kanu’s bail application and his request to be transferred to a Nigerian Custodial Centre, ordered the DSS to make a room available for Kanu to prepare for his defense.
The court specified that Kanu’s legal team should not exceed five members.
The court ruled: “An order is hereby made varying the condition of visitation to him in custody to three days a week. He is to be given a safe and clean room at the current facility to prepare for his defence with his team of counsel, not exceeding five in number. They should be allowed such a facility that is required for the preparation of his defense and be allowed to take notes.”
However, the court issued a Form 48 Notice of Consequences of Disobedience to the order of the court, notifying Bichi that he would be liable to imprisonment if found guilty of contempt of court.
The order of committal notice filed in court reads: “Take notice that the defendant will apply to this court for an order for your committal to prison for having disobeyed the order of this court made on May 20, 2024, which stated in pertinent part as follows:
“That an order is hereby made varying the condition of visitation to him in custody to three days a week. “
is to be given a safe and “clean” room to be made available to the Defendant at the current facility to prepare for his defense with his team of counsels not exceeding five in number.”
