Barrister Aloy Ejimakor, Special Counsel to the imprisoned leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, has called on Nigeria’s Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), to order the immediate release of Onyeaka Ozioma Elizabeth, an Igbo woman who was arrested by operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) in Anambra State more than five years ago.
She is reportedly being detained without access to her family or lawyer.
Ejimakor made the call in a post on his X account while citing the growing public concern over Elizabeth’s alleged prolonged detention.
The lawyer also urged Fagbemi to stop the use of Wawa Barracks in Niger State as a detention facility for Igbo people arrested in the Southeast.
Ejimakor said, “Standing on the high public interest generated by the matter of Onyeaka Ozioma Elizabeth, I hereby call on AGF Lateef Fagbemi to direct that Ozioma be freed from detention, forthwith.
“He should also halt the use of Wawa Barracks as a detention centre for Igbos arrested in Igboland.”
SaharaReporters earlier reported that one of Kanu’s counsels, Barrister Nnaemeka Ejiofor, had raised concerns over the alleged prolonged detention of Elizabeth, who was arrested by operatives of DSS more than five years ago and allegedly held without access to her family or lawyer.
Ejiofor said that Elizabeth was arrested at 33 Onitsha, Anambra State, more than five years and three months ago before being transferred to the Wawa Military Detention Centre in Kainji, Niger State.
According to the lawyer, Elizabeth was recently spotted within the premises of the Federal High Court in Abuja, where she allegedly told him about her ordeal.
“Onyeaka Ozioma Elizabeth was spotted on the premises of the Federal High Court, Abuja, and she informed me that she was arrested at 33 Onitsha, Anambra State, over 5 years and 3 months ago by the DSS and dumped in Wawa Military Detention Centre in Kainji, Niger State, without access to her family or lawyer,” Ejiofor said.
He further said Elizabeth’s sister was unaware that she was still alive until she was contacted and shown a video of her.
“Her sister, whose phone number Ozioma Elizabeth gave to me when contacted, could not believe that Ozioma Elizabeth was still alive until she saw this video,” he added.
Ejiofor questioned the legality of keeping a suspect in detention for such an extended period without access to legal representation or family members, describing the alleged detention as “illegal and dehumanising.”
“What manner of trial or justice can come from such illegal and dehumanizing detention?” Ejiofor asked.
He also expressed concern about Elizabeth’s physical and psychological condition, saying, “See fear written all over her face.”
According to Ejiofor, Elizabeth was allegedly moved from Anambra State to Kainji in Niger State and subsequently to Abuja, places he said were unfamiliar to her and far from her family and community.
“Brought from Anambra to Kainji, Niger State, to Abuja; towns and cities she has never been to and away from everything that she knows, to face trial,” he said.
The lawyer also questioned whether Elizabeth’s alleged prosecution was connected to her identity as a Biafran, contrasting the case with what he described as the absence of similar prosecutions against people identified with other regional identities in Nigeria.
“Trial for being Biafran?” Ejiofor asked. “Why nobody has ever faced trial for being Oduduwa, and certainly none will ever face trial for being Arewa.”
The lawyer strongly condemned what he described as failures within Nigeria’s justice system, saying, “Nigeria, a country of injustice.”
The allegations have raised questions over the circumstances surrounding Elizabeth’s arrest, the legal basis for her prolonged detention, her access to legal representation and whether her family was formally informed of her whereabouts.
Ejimakor’s latest intervention has placed additional pressure on the Nigerian government, particularly the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation, to address the allegations surrounding Elizabeth’s detention and the reported use of Wawa Barracks to hold suspects arrested in the Southeast.
(SaharaReporters)
