The family of Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), has dismissed two of the IPOB leader’s lawyers.
Kanunta Kanu, a younger brother to the IPOB leader, announced this in a post via his verified Twitter handle on Thursday.
The affected lawyers are Ifeanyi Ejiofor, Mr Kanu’s lead counsel, and Mike Ozekhome, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria.
“I hereby formally notify @MikeozekhomeSAN and @IfeanyiEjiofor that their services are no longer required in Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s case pending before the Supreme Court of Nigeria and all (cases) concerning him,” Kanunta posted on the microblogging platform.
A dismissal note was attached to the tweet.
In the note, Kanunta indicated that the family’s grouse followed Mr Ozekhome’s alleged refusal to see Mr Kanu at the State Security Service (SSS) facility, since 11 May, despite the IPOB leader’s “several” requests.
He also accused Mr Ozekhome of stopping medical doctors sent by the family from carrying out a medical examination on the IPOB leader on 5 June at the SSS facility where he is being detained.
He added that the lawyer stopped the doctors from carrying out the medical examination even though Mr Kanu had, on 2 June, informed him and Mr Ejiofor about the doctors’ visit.
It was Mr Kanu who directed the lawyers to inform his family to arrange the doctors’ visit, he said.
“For these obvious reasons and many more, Prof Mike Ozekhome SAN and Barr. Ifeanyi Ejiofor are hereby sacked as Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s counsels,” he said.
“The Kanu family do appreciate your time and efforts so far. Please, handover the legal documents asap,” Kanunta added.
The lawyers were yet to react to the development at the time of filing this report.
Background
Mr Kanu was first arrested in 2015 under the administration of former Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari.
The IPOB leader was later granted bail in April 2017. He fled the country after an invasion of his home in Afara-Ukwu, near Umuahia, Abia State, by the Nigerian military in September of that year.
He was re-arrested in Kenya and brought back to Nigeria in June 2021, about four years after he fled the country.
The Court of Appeal, Abuja, on 13 October, held that the IPOB leader was extra-ordinarily renditioned to Nigeria and that the action was a flagrant violation of the country’s extradition treaty and a breach of his fundamental human rights.
The court, therefore, struck out the terrorism charges filed against Mr Kanu by the Nigerian government and ordered his release from the custody of the SSS.
But the government refused to release the IPOB leader, insisting that he (Kanu) could be unavailable in subsequent court proceedings and that his release would cause insecurity in the South-east.
The government, through the office of the Attorney-General of the Federation, later appealed the court ruling and subsequently obtained an order staying the execution of the court judgement at the Supreme Court.
Mr Kanu, on 3 November, through Mr Ozekkome, filed an appeal against the court ruling stopping him from being freed. The court has yet to deliver a ruling on the appeal.
Since then, Messrs Ejiofor and Ozekkome have been leading the legal battles to release the IPOB leader.
IPOB is a group leading the agitation for an independent state of Biafra which it wants to be carved out from the South-east and some parts of South-south Nigeria.
