Kanu suffering ill-treatment in DSS custody, lawyers allege

Lawyers to Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Aloy Ejimakor and Ifeanyi Ejiofor, have alleged their client is undergoing harsh and inhumane treatment in the custody of the Department of State Services (DSS).

A statement by both lawyers on Ejimakor’s Facebook wall on Thursday alleged Kanu was confined to a tiny cell 23 hours a day without access to sunlight or any social interaction.

According to the post titled: “Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s detention condition at the DSS amounts to torture,” the development was allegedly targeted at inflicting extreme emotional and mental distress on him as well as breaking him psychologically.

It reads: “Our Client, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, has instructed us to make the following information public.

“1, 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.

“2, 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.

“3, 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.