On Friday, The Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, accused the Federal Government of using security operatives at the Kuje Prisons in Abuja of subject those visiting its incarcerated leader, Nnamdi Kanu to constant harassment.
In a statement by the spokesperson of the group, Emma Powerful, the pro-Biafra group claimed that the Federal Government had devised means to prevent visitors from accessing Kanu in prison.
IPOB said unlike the normal practice in the past, where visitors only have to fill forms at the prison gate before they are allowed to see the prisoners they came to visit, Kanu’s visitors are now made to get a clearance from the headquarters of the Nigerian Prisons Service in Abuja before having access to him.
Describing the new measure as “harassment” of Kanu’s visitors, IPOB said, “The Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, and its leadership worldwide, has raised the alarm over the incessant harassment meted on the people who visit our leader Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, in Kuje Prison, Abuja.
“Information reaching us this morning has it that visitors are no longer allowed to see the IPOB leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, and his fellow freedom fighters, namely Benjamin Madubugwu, Chidiebere Onwudiwe and David Nwawuisi, except they get clearance forms from the prison headquarters, Abuja.
“The legal and constitutional procedure that every visitor has followed right from the onset is to fill some forms at the Kuje Prison gate with a passport photograph, and submit same to the security at the entrance for verification before the visitor is granted entry.
“This procedure has been applicable to both Nnamdi Kanu and other inmates in Kuje Prison.
“But this new method is totally strange and entirely different and it reeks of some vendetta,” IPOB alleged in the statement.
IPOB alleged that the new measure, which is only applicable to Kanu, was devised to frustrate those wishing to see its leader.
“Now this new plan has come up to seemingly frustrate the visitors who come for Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and his mates.
“The question now is why is this new method introduced? Why is the order affecting only Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s visitors?
“There are other inmates in Kuje Prison but why are only Nnamdi Kanu’s visitors always either denied access to see him, harassed and embarrassed, or even manhandled while visitors of other inmates encounter no challenges at all?
“For how long will this injustice and inhuman treatment last?”
“Currently, a good number of innocent people are at Kuje Prison this morning, waiting to see their amiable leader and brother, Nnamdi Kanu, but they have been denied access,” the group added.
