The Department of State Services (DSS) has faulted the claim by detained self-acclaimed leader of the proscribed separatist group, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, that he was denied adequate medical attention and subjected to the care of quacks rather than doctors.
The lawyer to the DSS, I. Awo, argued that contrary to Kanu’s claim, the detainee had never been treated by a quack at the facility of the secret police.
Awo spoke yesterday at the hearing of an appeal filed by Kanu before the Court of Appeal in Abuja.
The lawyer, who represented the DSS and its Director General, told the court that the appellant was undergoing trial for terrorism-related offences, where the issue of his access to adequate medical attention had also featured.
He urged the court to dismiss the appeal for lack of merit.
Lawyer to the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), T. Agber, prayed the court to dismiss the appeal and affirm the earlier decision of the trial court.
The appellant’s lawyer, Maxwell Opara, told the court that the appeal was against the June 3, 2022, judgment delivered by Justice Taiwo Taiwo (now retired) of the Federal High Court in Abuja.
Opara said the appeal challenged Justice Taiwo’s alleged failure to allow parties call oral evidence in view of the dispute over whether or not the DSS subjected his client to treatment by quacks.
He said: “What we are saying is that this issue has to do with somebody’s right to life.
“The respondents brought in a quack to examine the appellant, despite his insistence that he should be brought before qualified medical experts.
“The respondents denied. We said there was a conflict, which would have required us to call oral evidence, but which the trial court rejected,” he said.
Opara prayed the court to promptly determine the appeal, “because the life of an individual is involved”.
The lawyer urged the court to set aside Justice Taiwo’s decision.
After listening to the lawyers’ submissions, a three-member panel of the Court of Appeal, presided over by Justice Boloukuromo Ugo, said judgment in the appeal was reserved till a date to be communicated to the parties.
Other members of the panel are Justices Okon Abang and Oyejoju Oyewumi.
Kanu had claimed, among others, that his health was deteriorating in the DSS custody, and that the medical personnel assigned to attend to him by the DSS were unqualified.
The detainee also claimed that the DSS denied him the right to practice his religion.
In his June 3, 2022 judgment, Justice Taiwo dismissed Kanu’s fundamental rights enforcement suit because it was without merit.
Justice Taiwo noted that Kanu failed to provide sufficient evidence that his fundamental rights were infringed upon by the DSS “as there is no proof of torture before the court.”
On Kanu’s right to practise his religion, the judge held that while he has the constitutional right to practice his religion, but as a suspect in custody, he cannot be allowed to practise his religion in such a way that would disturb the peace of other persons in custody.
The judge also held that Kanu failed to lead evidence by calling a medical practitioner to convince the court that he was denied adequate medical attention from experts.
