The lead counsel to the detained leader of the indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB), , Mr Ifeanyi Ejiofor has cried out over the continued detention of his domestic staff : Felix Okonkwo, Okafor Lawrence,Ikenna Chubuike and Ugochukwu since 2021.
They were arrested by the Department of State Service, (DSS) on June 6, 2021 when Ejiofor ancestral home in Anambra state was invaded by security operatives.
Ejiorfor pleaded with President Muhammadu Buhari and the Attorney General of the Federation AGF, Abubakar Malami to prevail on the Director General of the DSS to immediately and unconditionally release the domestic staff.
At a press conference held in Abuja on Friday on the judgment of a Federal high court which declared his house invasion as “barbaric, uncivilized, illegal and unconstitutional”, Ejiofor demanded immediate compliance with the court verdict to release his detained workers.
He alleged that his house at Umunakwa Ifite, Oraifite, Ekwusigo Local Government Area of Anambra State was on June 6, 2021 unlawfully invaded by a combined operatives of Army, DSS, Police and Civil Defence during which his Assistant, Samuel Okoro was gruesomely murdered.
To conceal evidence, Ejiofor said that the corpse of Okoro was callously burnt in his Camry Toyota to ashes by the security operatives.
He however, thanked the Federal High Court for the judgment delivered in his suit marked FHC/AWK/CS/56/2021 adding that the court verdict had set the record straight as against the denial by the security operatives.
The lawyer claimed that he committed no offense other than defending Nnamdi Kanu in the charges brought against him by the Federal Government.
Ejiofor fingered an Assistant Inspector General of Police AIG who he alleged was directly involved in the planning and execution of the illegal invasion and challenged the police authorities to investigate the police officer’s telephone calls and messages between June 5th to 7th 2021for deserved punishment.
Justice Hassan Nganjiwa had in the judgment delivered on July 22 ordered Police ,DSS Nigeria Security and civil Defense Corps and the Nigerian Army to pay a sum of N107M compensation to the lawyer for the unlawful invasion of his house and for destruction done to his properties during the unlawful invasion
Justice Nganjiwa had held in the judgment “I wish to state that after watching the CCTV footage tendered in this matter, I ran out of words to express my feelings to what I saw. I could not believe what I saw was done by human beings like us and the applicant (Ejiofor).
“In the first place, there was nothing shown why the applicant’s house was invaded. Even if he had committed murder, the respondents went too far by taking the law into their hands.
The applicant, all the occupants of the house and the neighbors were traumatized psychologically, mentally, socially and otherwise.
Again, the Personal Assistant lost his life out of overzealous officer’s act, who to my mind are not human beings. They are not supposed to be in the service and be given responsibilities. No amount of compensation can bring him back to life and the lost or injury suffered cannot be healed forever.
The Judge ordered the defendants, Police, DSS, Civil Defence Corps and the Nigerian Army to pay Ejiofor a sum of N107M as compensation.
Breakdown of the fine showed that N100M is general and exemplary damages on compensation for violation of his fundermental rights, N5M as cost of his burnt Toyota car marked YAB 60 CB, and N2M as cost of litigation.
The Judge declared the brutal and violent invasion of the house, killing, shooting and abduction of domestic staff as oppressive and gross violation of his rights to private and family life guaranteed by the 1999 Constitution.
Justice Nganjiwa issued order of perpetual injunction against the defendants from further harassing, intimidating. threatening to illegally arrest and torture or take further steps to terminate lawyer’s life and properties.
The Judge ordered the security agencies authorities to identify all officers who participated in the dastardly act and sanction them accordingly.