Follow Us on Google
By Vincent Kalu
Nnamdi Kanu’s lawyer, Aloy Ejimakor, has appealed to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) for humanitarian intervention with the federal government to grant the leader of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) access to independent medical examination and care.
Ejimakor said Kanu has been battling life-threatening serious health conditions – heart disease and hypertension, which have been aggravated by the mental and physical torture he was subjected to, and by his continued confinement.
A letter entitled: “Urgent Appeal for your humanitarian intervention with the Government of Nigeria to grant Mazi Nnamdi Kanu access to independent medical examination and care,” addressed to Yann Bonzon, Head of Delegation in Nigeria, International Committee of the Red Cross, Abuja, dated February 12, 2022, was made available to Saturday Sun. Ejimakor through the firm of Adulbert Legal Services traced the Kanu’s ordeal from when he was arrested in October 2015 and was charged for treasonable felony, stemming from his advocacy for the restoration of the State of Biafra to when he was released on bail in 2017, and the aftermath of military invasion in his Afaraukwu Ibeku, Abia State.
The letter which reads in part emphasized: “In the course of the said military assault, 28 people were killed and several others, including our client, were wounded. Our client’s parents sustained grave injuries from the military invasion and both of them eventually succumbed to those injuries and are now late. This too was widely reported in the media.
“During the course of the military assault, our client managed to flee to a temporary safe location from where he ultimately fled abroad in search of safe haven. In the meantime, the Nigerian Army declared him wanted, thus suggesting that he could be shot and killed anywhere they located him within Nigeria.
“Our client is currently being detained in solitary confinement with irregular and limited access to only his counsel and few others for only two days of the week. An official of the British High Commission in Nigeria was allowed to visit him once after several months of refusals by the Nigerian government.
“On arrival in Nigeria, our client was taken to and detained at the headquarters of the State Security Services (SSS) in Abuja, Nigeria. He spent the first night at the SSS detention facility, sleeping on the floor with very bright electric bulbs deliberately left on throughout the night, thus causing him extreme bodily heat, sleep deprivation and mental anguish.
“Our client has life-threatening serious health conditions, namely: heart disease and hypertension, which have been aggravated by the mental and physical torture he was subjected to, and by his continuing solitary confinement
“Our client informs us that his blood has been drawn more than 20 times without explanation and that he continues to feel apprehension and dread that he is in custody of those that partook in his extraordinary rendition.
“During our several visitations with him, he told us that his health, particularly his heart is failing him and he was having severe breathing issues, that his finger nails are cracking and he feels dizzy most times of the day. Above all, he told us he was not receiving the necessary medical care even when the Government of Nigeria is aware from his in-jail medical examination that his heart has enlarged by 13 per cent. We observed that his finger nails are in fact cracking, he had laboured breathing, looked very frail, ill and is generally a shadow of his old self.
“His said serious health problems require the urgent and constant attention of specialist doctors and medications that are not being given to him in the detention facility. In this circumstance, he is daily facing the grim and imminent risk of losing his life in detention and the risk increases each passing day.
“In view of the forgoing, we mostly respectfully request that you bring your good offices to bear on the Government of Nigeria to grant our client the opportunity of an independent medical examination and care within the shortest possible time henceforth.
