DSS threatened to kill me like Abiola – Kanu

Nnamdi Kanu

Leader of the Independent Peoples of Biafra and founder of the guerilla Radio Biafra, Mr. Nnamdi Kanu, has accused officials of the Department of State Services of threatening to kill him like the winner of the annulled June 12, 1993, presidential election, Chief M.K.O Abiola.

The late business mogul died on July 7, 1998, in controversial circumstances while he was detained by the military government.

Kanu’s lawyer, Mr. Ifeanyi Ejiofor, made the claim at a press briefing on Friday evening. A copy of his address was sent to SUNDAY PUNCH.

Ejiofor criticised the security agency and the Federal Government for disregarding several court orders to release the pro-Biafra activist despite meeting his bail conditions.

The lawyer said, “(It is) very instructive to note at this juncture that we were reliably informed by Nnamdi Kanu that during the period of his arrest and unlawful incarceration in the custody of the DSS, he was threatened to be killed by the investigating officers, if he refused to cooperate with them. He was also told that Abiola was murdered in a manner that remained shrouded in secrecy; that he would be killed in similar manner, if he refused to drop his agitation for self-determination.

“He was further informed by the investigating officers that they had the backing and approval of powers that be to send him to his grave. And in response, Nnamdi Kanu assured them that killing him would not stop the agitation of the Indigenous People of Biafra for self-determination; that killing him in the manner being expressed by them would rather attract the wrath of God on the families of those that kill him; that not only them but their generations unborn will be visited by the wrath of God.”

That Kanu, who was arrested by the DSS on the October 14, 2015, in Lagos on his arrival from the United Kingdom, was arraigned by the secret service before the Chief Magistrate Court Wuse Zone 2, Abuja, on October 19, for alleged criminal conspiracy, managing and belonging to an unlawful society, and criminal intimidation contrary to sections 97, 97B and 397 of the Penal Code.

The court, presided over by Justice Shuabi, granted Kanu bail on the same day, while the suspect promptly satisfied the bail conditions but the DSS refused to release him, his lawyer said.

Kanu was charged with treasonable felony under Section 41 of the Criminal Code for allegedly belonging to and managing an unlawful society (IPOB).

His lawyer however denied the allegation, stating that, “It is of note that Nnamdi Kanu was never caught or arrested with any firearm, weapon or ammunition of any form. Radio Biafra as well as the Indigenous People of Biafra is respectively registered under the regulatory laws of the United Kingdom and United Nations. Certificates to the effect of these registrations are herein attached.

“The two dane guns listed among their exhibits and purportedly recovered in the course of their purported investigation at the residence of Benjamin Madubugwu are dane guns used for animal hunting, which are fully licensed. In the real sense of it, can these dane guns be used in levying war against the state in the manner specified under Section 41 of the Criminal Code Act?”