The Federal High Court in Abuja will today, Monday, hear an application filed by the detained leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, seeking his transfer from the custody of the Department of State Services to the National Hospital, Abuja, for urgent medical treatment.
The motion, filed on 3 September by Chief Kanu Agabi (SAN), followed what the defence team described as a “worrisome decline” in the IPOB leader’s health.
Vacation judge, Justice Musa Liman, had earlier granted leave for the matter to be taken during the court’s annual vacation, stressing its urgency. “I believe that the right to health is as important as the right to life. And so I agree that this matter can be heard by the vacation court,” the judge ruled while fixing 15 September for hearing and directing that processes be served on the DSS.
In an affidavit supporting the application, Kanu’s brother, Emmanuel Kanu, stated that the IPOB leader had complained of persistent weakness and body pains. According to him, medical examinations conducted in August and September revealed serious health complications.
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A team of doctors led by Emeritus Professor Austin A. C. Agaji reported that Kanu was suffering from kidney and liver concerns, dangerously low potassium levels, and a swelling under his armpit requiring urgent medical investigation.
Agabi told the court that doctors recommended his immediate transfer to the National Hospital as an interim measure. “The applicant’s health is seriously deteriorating considering the nature of his confinement, thereby making it more pressing to bring this application before a vacation judge,” he argued.
He further informed the court that a letter sent by the doctors to the Director-General of the DSS advising urgent transfer had not been answered.
Kanu, who has been in DSS custody since 2021 following his arrest in Kenya and repatriation to Nigeria, is currently facing terrorism-related charges before Justice James Omotosho of the same court.
His legal team maintained that granting the transfer would not prejudice the DSS. “The grant of the application would not occasion any injustice to the DSS,” Agabi told the court, insisting that Kanu’s right to health and life was at stake.
The application, marked FHC/ABJ/CR/383/2015, lists 11 grounds for the request. The court is expected to take arguments from both parties and give its ruling today.
