LEADER of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) Nnamdi Kanu has been granted access to his personal doctors outside the facility of the Department of State Service (DSS) in Abuja.
This was disclosed in a statement dated Saturday, July 29, released by Kanu’s Lead Counsel Ifeanyi Ejiofor.
Ejiofor said Kanu’s doctors attended to him in an undisclosed Abuja hospital.
“We are pleased to inform you that Mazi Nnamdi Kanu met with his choice personal physician yesterday in a hospital in Abuja, outside the facility of the State Security Service. As was part of the protocol, I witnessed the consultation. The medical examination was seamless and productive, and he will be progressing to the next stage soon,” he noted.
Ejiofor reiterated that Kanu has cancelled sit-at-home orders in the South-East.
“To this end, we urge the members of the public to respect and carry out the wishes of Onyendu (the leader) and, accordingly, desist from any further engagement with those whose primary intention is to ensure that Onyendu is kept in perpetual captivity, and consequently, destroy the entire South East through unauthorised sit-at-home and its enforcement.
“Interestingly, the bad news for these enemies of our people is that they have failed and failed woefully, and the long arm of the law will surely catch up with them,” Ejiofor added in the statement.
The ICIR had reported on Saturday that Kanu, in a hand-written order, asked Finland-based Simon Ekpa, his self confessed disciple, to immediately terminate the flagrant sit-at-home orders that have paralysed the South-East region.
He warned that anyone enforcing sit-at-home in the South-East is not his disciple and should be made to face the wrath of the law.
Kanu issued the directive in a message made public on Friday, July 28, in Enugu, by his Special Counsel, Aloy Ejimakor.
Parts of the letter read: “Simon, this is a direct order from me. I hereby instruct you to desist from calling for any sit-at-home henceforth. Equally, refrain from antagonising governors or persons in political positions because you are not in a position to know what they are doing on my behalf.
“I am ordering you to make a public announcement to the effect that you are in receipt of a direct order from me to cancel any pending sit-at-home in place at the moment.
“I embarked on this movement to liberate our people, not to enslave them. I despise and will despise any person or entity that wishes to inflict unnecessary hardship on our people. I have authorised Aloy to issue a press statement if you fail to make this announcement on your platform.”
Kanu added that anyone still engaging in sit-at-home is not his disciple.
“Haters of Biafra and mindless murderers in uniform are hiding under the cover of combating enforcers of sit-at-home to unleash mayhem against the same people we swore to defend.
“I have sent countless messages to those purportedly enforcing sit-at-home that they are not doing so in my name. I am not begging anybody to release me, just that Nigeria should have the decency to obey their own laws. The main issue which our people should address their minds to is the unconscionable delays in hearing the government appeal at the Supreme Court, which is a situation not amenable to any sit-at-home. Therefore sit-at-home is a waste of time, resources and energy,” Kanu added.
Ejimakor stated that the direct order issued to Simon Ekpa was personally handed to him by Kanu when he visited him on July 24 at the headquarters of the DSS in Abuja.
“Later that day, I tried to contact Mazi Simon Ekpa via his WhatsApp number but could not reach him until 1:44 am the following day (25th July 2023), whereupon I snapped the Direct Order as written and sent it to him. He thereafter acknowledged receipt, and we spoke briefly on it and exchanged a couple of text messages thereof.
“Since that early 25th July 2023 (when I conveyed the Order to Mazi Ekpa and he duly acknowledged it) he has not implemented the Order or otherwise made such announcement on his media platform. Nonetheless, I made a conscious decision to give him the benefit of doubt and thereby accord him more time to do the needful.
“Then, late yesterday (Thursday), further written Instructions was issued by Mazi Nnamdi Kanu to me, referring to the extant Direct Order to Mazi Ekpa and, in addition, instructing me that given that Mazi Ekpa has not carried out the Order, I must, as of today, being 28th July 2023, proceed to make the Order public through a Public Announcement/Press Statement. In the said further Instructions, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu added more pertinent details and instructed that I must equally make them public,” Ejimakor said.
A Federal High Court in Abuja ordered the DSS to grant Kanu access to his personal doctors on Thursday, July 20.
Although counsel to the DSS, A.M. Danlami, challenged the jurisdiction of the court to grant the request and insisted that Kanu has been receiving adequate medical attention in the custody of the security operatives, the High Court judge Binta Nyako held that the IPOB leader was entitled to doctors of his choice.
Nyako, however, directed that the medical examinations be held under the supervision of the DSS, recorded and sealed for security reasons.
Kanu was arrested and remanded in the custody of the DSS after his extradition from Kenya by the Nigerian government in June 2021.
Ijeoma Opara is a journalist with The ICIR. Reach her via [email protected] or @ije_le on Twitter.