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Abuja, 12 May 2025 – The Department of State Services (DSS) has come under fire after reportedly preventing Chief Kanu Agabi, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), from meeting his client, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, at their facility earlier today. The incident has sparked outrage, with critics accusing the DSS of interfering with Kanu’s right to a fair trial.

Aloy Ejimakor, a prominent lawyer and counsel of record for Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, took to X to express his dismay. In a post shared on 12 May 2025, Ejimakor stated that the DSS blocked Chief Agabi from seeing Kanu just minutes before the scheduled meeting, leaving the senior lawyer deeply upset. “The @OfficialDSSNG needs to explain to Nigerians why it blocked Chief Kanu Agabi, SAN from meeting with his Client MAZI NNAMDI KANU… This is a flagrant interference with fair trial. #Injustice,” Ejimakor wrote.

The controversy comes on the heels of a letter dated 9 May 2025 from Aloy Ejimakor Legal Services (AELS) to the Director-General of the State Security Services. The letter, titled “Notification of Names of Persons Who Will Visit Mazi Nnamdi Kanu on Monday, 12th May 2025,” listed five members of Kanu’s legal team, including Chief Kanu Agabi, SAN, who were scheduled to visit the detainee. The other members named were Onyochi Ikpeazu, SAN; Paul Erokoro, SAN; Emeka Etiaba, SAN; and Aloy Ejimakor, Esq. The letter, signed by Ejimakor, requested the DSS’s cooperation, underscoring the legal team’s expectation of unhindered access to their client.

Sources report that Chief Agabi left the DSS facility in Abuja visibly frustrated after being denied entry. The DSS has yet to issue an official statement addressing the incident or explaining their actions. Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), has been in DSS custody since his arrest in 2021, facing charges related to terrorism and treasonable felony. His legal team has repeatedly accused the authorities of obstructing their efforts to prepare an adequate defence, claims that have fuelled concerns about the fairness of his trial.

Legal experts have condemned the DSS’s actions, arguing that blocking a lawyer’s access to their client violates fundamental principles of justice.