Leader of the banned Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, has filed a lawsuit against the Department of State Services (DSS), which the Federal High Court of Abuja, again deferred yesterday.
The SSS is detaining a separatist leader, and he is requesting a court order for the agency to give him unrestricted access to his doctor and other professionals. Lawyers’ tardiness caused the hearing in the case to be postponed on May 3.
The presiding judge, Binta Nyako, expressed her displeasure with the attorneys’ behaviour and issued a warning that she would not put up with any further delays in the proceedings. Finally, she scheduled the hearing on Monday.
Nyako, however, was not there yesterday, according to reports that she was on business.
Court officials then fixed 20 June for the adoption of final addresses. Parties are expected to make their closing arguments at the June hearing, after which the judge will fix a date for judgement.
Kanu sued DSS and its Director-General in the suit, which seeks a court order granting him unhindered access to his medical doctors in detention.
The DSS filed an objection against the suit, urging the court to dismiss the suit for want of jurisdiction. It argued that there was a subsisting judgement of a sister court delivered by a now-retired judge, Taiwo Taiwo, on 3 June 2022, which, the agency said, had already issued an order allowing the IPOB leader access to his personal physician.
The DSS said Kanu’s fresh case was similar to the earlier one and that the IPOB leader also had an appeal relating to the judgement pending at the Court of Appeal.
The IPOB leader, through his lawyer, Mike Ozekhome, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, incessantly complains about his client’s poor state of health in SSS custody.
Kanu has a pending application at the Supreme Court seeking an order either granting him bail, or transferring him to the correction centre for easy access to his lawyers and physicians.
The Supreme Court has fixed 14 September for a hearing in the case.
