•DSS operatives and incarcerated IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu
The legal team of the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, has faulted claims attributed to the Department of State Services (DSS) in a report by a national newspaper (not The Frontier) which suggested that Kanu’s health concerns were exaggerated.
In a statement today, Kanu’s lawyer, Onyedikachi Ifedi, accused the DSS of misrepresenting the true state of his client’s health and urged the agency to allow independent medical scrutiny of his condition.
The paper had reported that DSS sources dismissed Kanu’s complaints about inadequate medical care and insisted that he was in stable health, reports Daily Independent.
The paper quoted unnamed officials as saying that his claims were intended to whip up sympathy.
Reacting, Ifedi described the report as “false propaganda” and maintained that his client was not receiving proper treatment for his health challenges.
“The facts are simple and indisputable: the DSS has been playing hide-and-seek with Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s health,” Ifedi said.
“Despite being present during his medical examinations and tests, the DSS suddenly introduced one doctor”, an individual “whose credentials and competence in handling life-threatening cardiovascular conditions are in serious question,” the lawyer stated in the statement.
According to the lawyer, the medical specialist assigned to Kanu’s case lacked adequate experience in dealing with conditions such as potassium depletion in the bloodstream, which he said posed a risk to his client.
Ifedi further raised questions about why the DSS sent Kanu’s blood samples abroad for analysis.
“If indeed the DSS has nothing to hide, why has it refused to release the full and unedited test results for the world to see?” he asked.
“Why also were Mazi Kanu’s blood samples flown to South Africa for analysis if, as they claim, nothing is wrong with him?”
He argued that the secret police lacked the necessary expertise to properly manage Kanu’s health challenges.
“A security agency which does not even understand the clinical implications of aortic valve regurgitation or congestive heart failure has no business presuming to oversee the healthcare of a man whose life is already endangered by detention conditions,” he stated.
Ifedi challenged the DSS to subject its claims to public verification.
“We hereby challenge the DSS to convene an open press conference where independent journalists and medical experts can freely interrogate them on the state of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s health. If the DSS is so confident in its position, let it subject itself to public scrutiny,” he said.
The lawyer also alleged that the DSS has, in the past, influenced the presentation of medical reports in court to fit a certain narrative.
“The modus operandi of the DSS has always been to pressure doctors into presenting reports that align with the government’s preferred position —deceiving the courts into believing that Mazi Nnamdi Kanu is well,” he claimed.
“The tragedy of Nigeria’s judicial system is that these Abuja-based courts, steeped in bias against the Igbo, often oblige them without question.”
Ifedi reaffirmed the legal team’s commitment to pursuing accountability both locally and internationally.
“The health and life of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu are not matters to be trivialised. We will continue to expose every falsehood and hold the DSS accountable before Nigerians and the international community,” he vowed.
