Aloy Ejimakor, the special counsel to the leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, has appealed to President Bola Tinubu to prevail on the Department of State Service (DSS) to allow his client to seek independent medical care.
He made the plea in a tweet on his handle, saying the IPOB leader needs urgent medical care, particularly for his ear.
“Dear President Tinubu: A few days ago, I passionately urged you to release Mazi Nnamdi Kanu. You haven’t.
“Today, I respectfully urge you to direct the SSS to immediately permit Mazi Nnamdi Kanu the freewill to seek independent medical care, particularly for the ear surgery he needs as of now,” he wrote on Wednesday.
In an earlier tweet, the legal practitioner claimed he had gone “through so much trouble to advance the cause of arranging proper medical care” for the IPOB leader. He, however, accused the secret service of not allowing that to happen.
The lawyer thereafter attached a copy of a letter to the tweet that was personally signed by him.
Dated June 6 June and addressed to DSS Director-General, Ejimakor said it was in response to one of Kanu’s medical reports believed to have been made by the medical unit of the secret service.
“This letter serves as a formal introduction as well as an accreditation for the two doctors who have been selected by the Kanu family to examine Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s medical records/report generated by the SSS medical unit,” the letter read.
Ejimakor identified the medical doctors as Uche Ukwuije, a consultant Otolaryngologist, and David Ukoha, a family physician.
According to the letter, the doctors were scheduled to be at the DSS headquarters in Abuja at 2 p.m. the same day in the company of Kanu’s brother, Emmanuel.
First arrested in 2015 under former President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, the IPOB leader was later granted bail in April 2017. After an invasion of his home in Afara-Ukwu, near Umuahia, Abia State by troops of the Nigerian Army, he fled the country in September of that year.
Kanu was subsequently re-arrested in Kenya and brought back to Nigeria in June 2021, about four years after he fled the country.
However, on October 13, the Court of Appeal, Abuja held that the IPOB leader was extra-ordinarily renditioned to Nigeria, adding that the action was a flagrant violation of the country’s extradition treaty and also a breach of his fundamental human rights.
The court also struck out the terrorism charges filed against Kanu by the Nigerian government and ordered his release from the custody of the DSS.
Despite the order granting Kanu freedom, the authorities refused to release the IPOB leader on the ground that he (Kanu) could be unavailable in subsequent court proceedings if released and that his freedom would cause insecurity in the South-East.
Through the office of the Attorney-General of the Federation, the Nigerian government later appealed the court ruling and subsequently obtained an order staying the execution of the court judgement at the Supreme Court.
However, the apex court is yet to rule on the substantive appeal by the government.
