Ifeanyi Ejiofor, the lawyer representing the arrested leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, has stated that his client needs “quick, advanced medical attention because he is not feeling too good.”
Ejiofor said the Nigerian government should allow his medical personnel to visit him in the custody of the Department of State Services.
Ejiofor stated these in an exclusive interview with SaharaReporters on Tuesday morning, adding that the legal team had filed court processes in that regard to enforce that his medical doctors are allowed to see him.
The lawyer added that none of Kanu’s family members had seen him since July 18 when he was arrested by the Nigerian authorities.
Ejiofor said, “We have formally applied to the court in that regard (to have doctors visit him). We have filed a court process to allow medical experts to visit him. Whatever treatment they (the DSS) are giving to him is not enough. We want an expert that will examine him because he is still not feeling good. We want an expert that will provide him with advanced medical attention – not the type is given where he is being detained.
“The preliminary investigation conducted on his health shows that his heart has enlarged by 13 percent. So he needs quick and prompt advanced medical attention. So we have formally applied to the court for that. Let us see what happens in the coming days. So then we can pick it up from there.
“Yes, it is correct that his family members have not been able to see him. I am particularly worried. They don’t have access to him. The wife, the brothers, cousins and children have not been allowed to see him. That is why I classified his detention as solitary confinement and also being subjected to regular mental torture. If you have access to your wife and children and brothers and sisters, you will have some element of relief from your immediate family. But in this case, they are not allowed to see him. They have not been allowed to see him. It is only us, his lawyers, who visit on appointment.”
SaharaReporters had on Monday reported that the wife of Nnamdi Kanu, Uchechi Okwu-Kanu, lamented that none of the family members has been able to reach him since he got into the custody of the Department of State Services.
Uchechi had added that Kanu is believed to be beaten and tortured by the security agencies in Kenya and Nigeria, giving all of them a great worry.
The IPOB leader’s wife, who is currently in the North of England, stated this in an interview on Sunday she granted to United Kingdom newspaper, The Sunday Times.
Speaking for the first time since the arrest of Kanu, the wife said, “It’s hard for me to speak. I’m extremely devastated. He has been beaten and tortured and I am scared for his life.”
She said she and the family had had no contact with him since his arrest.
Uchechi added, “I was always worried about Nnamdi. When you’re asking for freedom from dictatorship, you are a target. But when I saw what happened in Belarus and how no one did anything, I knew nowhere was safe.
“We’re just calling for a referendum exactly like Scotland did with the UK and UK did with the EU but the Nigerian government wants to exterminate our whole family. It’s a scandal and a thing of shame that Britain is not acting to secure their citizens.”
Three weeks ago, Kanu appeared in court in Abuja, hooded and charged with inciting violence. The Nigerian authorities had claimed that he was extradited to the country to continue his trial.