{"id":164736,"date":"2025-05-29T09:56:39","date_gmt":"2025-05-29T08:56:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/uncategorized\/dss-forced-me-make-confessional-statements-nnamdi-kanu"},"modified":"2025-05-29T11:22:46","modified_gmt":"2025-05-29T10:22:46","slug":"dss-forced-me-make-confessional-statements-nnamdi-kanu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/dss-forced-me-make-confessional-statements-nnamdi-kanu","title":{"rendered":"DSS forced me make confessional statements \u2013 Nnamdi Kanu"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Nigeria. <\/strong><\/span>Leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu, has revealed that an operative of the Department of State Services, DSS, threatened him to make confessional statements after his arrest in 2015.<\/p>\n

Kanu made this disclosure on Wednesday after the prosecution called its third witness, identified only as CCC.<\/p>\n

The third witness, like the first two witnesses, AAA and BBB, informed the court that he was part of the DSS team that investigated Kanu in 2015.<\/p>\n

The witness said he and two other DSS officers interviewed Kanu on October 21, 22, 23, and 24, as well as on November 4.<\/p>\n

According to him, the interviews were recorded on video, and Kanu also wrote statements after each session.<\/p>\n

Counsel to the federal government, Adegboyega Awomolo, tendered two video Compact Discs (CDs) containing the interviews and three copies of statements allegedly written by Kanu.<\/p>\n

While the defence team did not initially oppose the exhibits, one of the senior advocates representing Kanu, Paul Erokoro, later raised an objection.<\/p>\n

Erokoro said Kanu had just informed him that the written statements were made under duress.<\/p>\n

He told the court that DSS operatives denied Kanu access to his lawyer, threatened to deny him bail, and withheld his daily hour of fresh air, which was recommended due to his health condition.<\/p>\n

The presiding judge, James Omotosho, ordered the conduct of a trial-within-a-trial to ascertain whether the defendant\u2019s statements were voluntary.<\/p>\n

During the trial-within-a-trial, the DSS witness insisted that Kanu wrote his statements voluntarily.<\/p>\n

The IPOB leader\u2019s counsel asked the witness if he understood the process of detaining a suspect, if he knew all the officers at the DSS headquarters, and if he had contact with Kanu in his cell.<\/p>\n

The witness said he never entered Kanu\u2019s cell but knew all the gatekeepers who could interact with the defendant.<\/p>\n

Erokoro said, \u201cI put it to you that if any DSS officer named Mr. Brown visited the defendant in his cell to threaten him, you wouldn\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n

In response, the witness said the DSS does not operate like that.<\/p>\n

During the trial-within-a-trial, Kanu testified that the coercion by the DSS started in Lagos when his hands and legs were chained, he was blindfolded, and put on a plane.<\/p>\n

He further stated that he did not know where the operatives were taking him after landing in Abuja.<\/p>\n

According to him, the DSS kept him in solitary confinement with no form of light.<\/p>\n

He added that a particular Mr. Brown, whom he said was the assistant director of investigations, threatened him to cooperate during the interview or risk staying in solitary confinement.<\/p>\n

Kanu said that due to his poor health and the bad conditions of his cell, he began having nosebleeds, prompting the medical doctor at the facility to advise that he be allowed one hour outside his cell daily for fresh air.<\/p>\n

\u201cMr. Brown threatened me that if I don\u2019t do what they ask, they will stop giving me that one-hour break,\u201d Kanu said through his lawyer.<\/p>\n

During cross-examination by the prosecution, Kanu insisted that some parts of the video interview played in court had been edited out.<\/p>\n

He also claimed that the DSS operatives ordered him to write the statements.<\/p>\n

After Kanu\u2019s testimony, the trial-within-a-trial was closed.<\/p>\n

The judge asked the prosecution and defence teams to adopt their written addresses and file them by 9 a.m. on May 29.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Nigeria<\/span> Follow Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Nigeria. Leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu, has revealed that an operative of the Department of State Services, DSS, threatened him to make confessional statements after his arrest in 2015. Kanu made this disclosure on Wednesday after the prosecution called its third witness, identified only as CCC. The third […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":164735,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,14],"tags":[69,119,254,625],"class_list":["post-164736","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-court","tag-dss","tag-nigeria","tag-nnamdi-kanu"],"yoast_head":"\nDSS forced me make confessional statements \u2013 Nnamdi Kanu - Nigeria<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu, has revealed that an operative of the Department of State ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/dss-forced-me-make-confessional-statements-nnamdi-kanu\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"DSS forced me make confessional statements \u2013 Nnamdi Kanu\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu, has revealed that an operative of the Department of State ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/dss-forced-me-make-confessional-statements-nnamdi-kanu\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nigeria\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-05-29T08:56:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-05-29T10:22:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/05\/sm_1748501608.545412.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"798\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/dss-forced-me-make-confessional-statements-nnamdi-kanu#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/dss-forced-me-make-confessional-statements-nnamdi-kanu\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"DSS forced me make confessional statements \u2013 Nnamdi Kanu\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-05-29T08:56:39+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-05-29T10:22:46+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/dss-forced-me-make-confessional-statements-nnamdi-kanu\"},\"wordCount\":579,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/dss-forced-me-make-confessional-statements-nnamdi-kanu#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/05\/sm_1748501608.545412.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"court\",\"DSS\",\"Nigeria\",\"Nnamdi Kanu\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"Policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/dss-forced-me-make-confessional-statements-nnamdi-kanu#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/dss-forced-me-make-confessional-statements-nnamdi-kanu\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/dss-forced-me-make-confessional-statements-nnamdi-kanu\",\"name\":\"DSS forced me make confessional statements \u2013 Nnamdi Kanu - Nigeria\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/dss-forced-me-make-confessional-statements-nnamdi-kanu#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/dss-forced-me-make-confessional-statements-nnamdi-kanu#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/05\/sm_1748501608.545412.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-05-29T08:56:39+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-05-29T10:22:46+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"Leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu, has revealed that an operative of the Department of State ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/dss-forced-me-make-confessional-statements-nnamdi-kanu#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/dss-forced-me-make-confessional-statements-nnamdi-kanu\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/dss-forced-me-make-confessional-statements-nnamdi-kanu#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/05\/sm_1748501608.545412.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/05\/sm_1748501608.545412.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":798,\"caption\":\"DSS forced me make confessional statements \u2013 Nnamdi Kanu\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/dss-forced-me-make-confessional-statements-nnamdi-kanu#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"DSS forced me make confessional statements \u2013 Nnamdi Kanu\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/\",\"name\":\"Africa Press | Nigeria | Homepage\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/author\/cfeditoren\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"DSS forced me make confessional statements \u2013 Nnamdi Kanu - Nigeria","description":"Leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu, has revealed that an operative of the Department of State ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/dss-forced-me-make-confessional-statements-nnamdi-kanu","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"DSS forced me make confessional statements \u2013 Nnamdi Kanu","og_description":"Leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu, has revealed that an operative of the Department of State ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/dss-forced-me-make-confessional-statements-nnamdi-kanu","og_site_name":"Nigeria","article_published_time":"2025-05-29T08:56:39+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-05-29T10:22:46+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":798,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/05\/sm_1748501608.545412.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/dss-forced-me-make-confessional-statements-nnamdi-kanu#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/dss-forced-me-make-confessional-statements-nnamdi-kanu"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"DSS forced me make confessional statements \u2013 Nnamdi Kanu","datePublished":"2025-05-29T08:56:39+00:00","dateModified":"2025-05-29T10:22:46+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/dss-forced-me-make-confessional-statements-nnamdi-kanu"},"wordCount":579,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/dss-forced-me-make-confessional-statements-nnamdi-kanu#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/05\/sm_1748501608.545412.jpg","keywords":["court","DSS","Nigeria","Nnamdi Kanu"],"articleSection":["all news","Policy"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/dss-forced-me-make-confessional-statements-nnamdi-kanu#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/dss-forced-me-make-confessional-statements-nnamdi-kanu","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/dss-forced-me-make-confessional-statements-nnamdi-kanu","name":"DSS forced me make confessional statements \u2013 Nnamdi Kanu - Nigeria","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/dss-forced-me-make-confessional-statements-nnamdi-kanu#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/dss-forced-me-make-confessional-statements-nnamdi-kanu#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/05\/sm_1748501608.545412.jpg","datePublished":"2025-05-29T08:56:39+00:00","dateModified":"2025-05-29T10:22:46+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"Leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu, has revealed that an operative of the Department of State ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/dss-forced-me-make-confessional-statements-nnamdi-kanu#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/dss-forced-me-make-confessional-statements-nnamdi-kanu"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/dss-forced-me-make-confessional-statements-nnamdi-kanu#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/05\/sm_1748501608.545412.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/05\/sm_1748501608.545412.jpg","width":1200,"height":798,"caption":"DSS forced me make confessional statements \u2013 Nnamdi Kanu"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/dss-forced-me-make-confessional-statements-nnamdi-kanu#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"DSS forced me make confessional statements \u2013 Nnamdi Kanu"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/","name":"Africa Press | Nigeria | Homepage","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/author\/cfeditoren"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164736","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=164736"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164736\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/164735"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=164736"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=164736"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=164736"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}