Ifeanyi Ejiofor, the lead Lawyer for Nnamdi Kanu, the imprisoned leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), a banned Igbo separatist organization, has pleaded with President Muhammadu Buhari to release the Biafran agitator so he can travel abroad for an urgent “advanced medical treatment and surgical operation” because his deteriorating health has affected his left ear.
Ejiofor, who made the appeal on Tuesday following a routine visit to Kanu at the Department of State Services (DSS) prison facility on Monday, claimed that the IPOB leader required urgent medical attention due to his failing health.
In a statement on his social media accounts, Ejiofor raised concern over the inadequate medical resources available at the DSS headquarters to address Kanu’s problems.
He added that his client has been having severe pains in his left ear drum that has become greatly impaired following severe torture and beating he received in Kenya before being renditioned back to Nigeria in June, 2021.
“Kanu also recounted that a previous scan at the instance of the SSS revealed that he must undergo an advanced surgical procedure to repair his left ear drum that has become greatly impaired by the severe torture and beating he received from agents of the Federal Government when he was forcibly kidnapped in Kenya and savagely renditioned back to Nigeria in June, 2021,” the lawyer said.
“He narrated how the DSS doctor had emphatically told him that if after 45 days from November 18, 2022, when he was examined, his case had not improved, then he must undergo immediate surgery to save whatever remains of his left ear.
“Being held in solitary confinement, the DSS has also bluntly refused him access to his private doctor for independent medical assessment as ordered by the court,” Ejiofor wrote.
He added that he had already filed a suit at the Federal High Court, Abuja, to compel the DSS to allow Kanu access to his medical doctors and medical records, which would come up this week.