Former legal representative to the convicted leader of the proscribed Indigenous People Of Biafra (IPOB), Barrister Ifeanyi Ejiofor, has reacted to the decision of Nnamdi Kanu, to terminate his services as personal lawyer.
Ejiofor said he has remained silent despite years of attacks and threats.
Diaspora Digital Media reported that Kanu in a letter dated July 22 officially ended the lawyer’s retainership and warned him against making public statements or revealing confidential information obtained during the course of his legal representation.
However, in a statement posted on his official Facebook page on Monday, Ejiofor dismissed what he described as “the curious panic of those confronted by nothing but silence,” noting that he had exercised restraint despite repeated provocations.
He noted that Nnamdi Kanu over the years, masterminded campaigns of blackmail against him, filed what he described as frivolous petitions before the relevant professional body, and made several defamatory allegations against him.
He further claimed that Kanu issued threats against him from detention and instructed his supporters to target him, allegations he said he never publicly responded to.
According to Ejiofor, he also endured accusations bordering on his professional conduct and personal life but chose to remain silent out of respect for legal ethics and professional responsibility.
He argued that Kanu’s recent emphasis on client confidentiality came only after he allegedly became aware of evidence that could be presented in court in defence of another party in an ongoing defamation matter.
“The time has not yet come for me to divulge professionally obtained information. And even if I had intended to do so, I would have done so long before now,” Ejiofor said.
He maintained that he had consistently been guided by professional ethics and had no intention of becoming responsible for the consequences of another person’s actions.
Ejiofor also declined to respond directly to what he described as “concocted or apparently forged correspondence hurriedly assembled by overzealous actors,” an apparent reference to Kanu’s letter terminating his services.
While interrogating the motive behind Kanu’s warning on confidentiality, Ejiofor said: “Why the sudden panic? Why the hurried invocation of professional confidentiality? Why the desperate attempt to silence a voice that has, for years, chosen restraint over retaliation?”
He concluded with a warning that “time is fast running out,” adding that, “For now, nothing has been said. And perhaps that is precisely what is causing all the lamentation. It is only a matter of time.”
