Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), has filed contempt charges against the Director-General of the Department of State Services (DSS), Yusuf Bichi, for allegedly refusing to comply with court orders. Represented by his lawyer, Aloy Ejimakor, Kanu submitted Form 49, titled “Notice to Show Cause Why An Order Of Committal Should Not Be Made,” at the Federal High Court (FHC) in Abuja on June 10. The application is marked FHC/ABJ/CR/383/2015.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the Federal Republic of Nigeria is listed as the complainant/1st respondent, and Yusuf Magaji Bichi is listed as the 2nd respondent/contemnor. Kanu claims that despite receiving the court orders from Justice Binta Nyako on May 20, Bichi has not complied.
Justice Nyako had previously refused Kanu’s request to revoke his 2017 bail revocation, transfer him to Kuje Correctional Centre, or place him under house arrest. However, she adjusted the conditions for visiting Kanu at the DSS facility, increasing the visitation days from two to three per week and mandating that Kanu be provided with a safe and clean room for preparing his defense with his legal team. Despite these orders, Kanu alleges that the DSS DG has not complied.
The application states: “Take Notice that the Defendant will on the ____day of _______, 2024, at the hour of 9 o’clock in the forenoon apply to this court for an order for your committal to prison for having disobeyed the order of this court made on the 20th day of May 2024, which stated in pertinent part as follows:
“You have not complied with the 3 (three) days per week visitation to the Applicant as was ordered by the court. You have not provided a safe and ‘clean’ room to the Applicant at the present facility to prepare for his defense with his counsel team. You have not allowed such facility that is required for the preparation of the Applicant’s defense, which facility you have disallowed on every visitation since the said order was entered, as set out below:
“Interdiction, seizure, perusal, and photocopying of legal documents relating to the trial preparation of the applicant. By not retracing your steps after you were, on the 31st day of May 2024, served with a Form 48; Notice of Consequences of Disobedience to Court.
“AND TAKE FURTHER NOTICE that you are hereby required to attend the court on the first-mentioned day to show cause why an Order for your Committal should not be made.”