Mike Ozekhome, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), has criticised the Department of State Services (DSS) for restricting the press in its coverage of the trial of Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), which continues today (Monday, July 26, 2021).
Politics Nigeria learnt that some mainstream media organisations like The PUNCH, The Guardian, Vanguard, Daily Trust, Tribune, Daily Sun, The Cable, and Daily Times, have been barred from covering the trial.
While Daily Post, ThisDay, Premium Times, The Nation, Daily Independent, The Herald, National Television Authority (NTA), Television Continental (TVC), African Independent Television (AIT) and Channels Television, were the only media houses accredited for the coverage, Ozekhome said it is not constitutional.
His words: “Our legal system does not admit of secret trials. We are not a country of witches and wizards operating in a coven.
“For a trial to be free and fair, Section 36 of the Constitution says it must be carried out openly and publicly. Banning some media houses from covering Nnamdi Kanu’s trial is not only a sin against Section 36 of the Constitution, it also violently offends the provision of Section 22 of the same Constitution which gives the media the right and responsibility to ensure that the provisions of Chapter Two of the constitution dealing with the fundamental objectives and directive principles of state policy are upheld and that the government is held accountable to the people of Nigeria.”
Kanu, who was arrested in Kenya and extradited to Nigeria to face a treason trial, is being detained in the DSS facility, in Abuja.
