One of the legal representatives of the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, has accused Nigeria’s Department of State Services (DSS) of medical negligence and attempting to cover up his client’s worsening health condition.
In a strongly worded statement on Thursday, Barrister Onyedikachi Ifedi condemned what he described as the DSS’s “propaganda, concealment, and medical quackery,” alleging that the agency is downplaying the severity of Kanu’s health crisis.
“The facts are clear: the DSS has been playing hide-and-seek with Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s health,” Ifedi said.
According to him, even though Kanu’s lawyers were present during recent medical examinations, the DSS allegedly forced the use of a doctor “with questionable credentials” on the IPOB leader’s medical team. Ifedi labeled one of the doctors “a quack catapulted from obscurity” who showed “no understanding of the life-threatening risks associated with potassium depletion.”
The lawyer also questioned why the DSS has withheld Kanu’s full medical results if, as they claim, he is in stable condition.
“If nothing is wrong with him, why did the DSS secretly fly Mazi Kanu’s blood samples to South Africa for analysis?” Ifedi asked.
He argued that the DSS is not medically equipped to manage serious cardiovascular conditions like aortic valve regurgitation and congestive heart failure, warning that Kanu’s life remains at risk under the current detention conditions.
“A security agency that does not comprehend the clinical implications of these conditions has no business presiding over his healthcare,” Ifedi asserted.
He called on the DSS to organize an open press briefing where independent journalists and medical experts can freely question the agency about Kanu’s health status.
Ifedi further alleged that the DSS has pressured medical professionals to alter reports to align with “the government’s preferred narrative,” and criticized Abuja-based courts for what he called bias against Igbo defendants.
“The health and life of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu cannot be reduced to pawns in the DSS’s propaganda war,” he said, vowing to continue exposing what he described as official falsehoods to both Nigerians and the international community.
