Nnamdi Kanu’s Health Challenges and Family Politics By Ifeanyi Ejiofor
BACKGROUND:
In my last update relating to Onyendu Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and his ongoing case, I clearly advised his current legal team and their handlers to focus on the task before them, principally the task of securing the release of Mazi Nnamdi, and to refrain from their futile and puerile attempts at blackmailing or discrediting my esteemed mentor, Prof. Mike Ozekhome, SAN, and my humble self. Unfortunately, this priceless advice ostensibly fell on deaf ears.
Our people say that “ezi aha ka ego” – meaning that a good name is better than wealth. Hence, it will be foolhardy of me to continue to allow some bunch of ingrates to besmirch my hard-earned reputation. Therefore, henceforth, I shall be addressing every smear campaign of calumny and lies against my person and that of Prof. Mike Ozekhome, SAN, as the need arises and as my spirit dictates/ direct.
THE FULCRUM:
Today, I will address the issue of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s health and his access to personal doctors. This discussion is prompted by the ongoing campaign of calumny orchestrated by individuals who urgently require psychiatric attention.
SALIENT POINTS TO NOTE:
1. Mazi Nnamdi Kanu was abducted and extraordinarily renditioned to Nigeria on June 27, 2021. He was subsequently brought to court on June 29, 2021, without prior notice to his legal representatives. The court consequently ordered that he should be remanded in the custody of the State Security Services (SSS) Abuja.
2. On July 13, 2021, I filed an application before the court seeking for the transfer of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu from the custody of the SSS to Kuje Correctional Center, and for him to have access to his chosen doctors for independent medical examination.
On the October 21, 2021, the court delivered its ruling on that application. Even though the court refused to transfer Mazi Mazi Nnamdi Kanu from SSS custody to Kuje Correctional Center, His Lordship however ordered that he should be given access to THREE PERSONS OF HIS CHOICE, persons including his MEDICAL DOCTORS, twice a week.
3. Following the SSS’ persistent denial of access to Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s personal doctor, Prof. Mike Ozekhome, SAN, an erudite Professor of Law, and the then Lead Counsel, commenced an action before the Federal High Court, wherein he sought for an order of mandamus to compel the SSS and its Director General to grant Nnamdi Kanu access to his chosen doctors and medical records in Suit No: FHC/ABJ/CS/2341/2022.
4. While the matter was still pending in court, and following several communications from Prof. Mike Ozekhome, SAN, to the Director General of SSS, underscoring the urgent need for an independent medical examination by Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s personal doctors due to his deteriorating health, a meeting was held on June 3, 2023, at the SSS Headquarters. Present at the meeting were Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, Prof. Mike Ozekhome, SAN, my humble self, the Director of the Legal Department of the SSS with their in-house medical personnel attending to Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s health issues.
5. During the meeting, the SSS agreed to allow Mazi Nnamdi Kanu access to Doctors of his choice and instructed that when his selected doctors were available to visit, they should be introduced by Prof. Mike Ozekhome, SAN who was the lead counsel at whose instance the meeting was convened.
6. Onyendu Mazi Nnamdi Kanu was fully aware that I do not maintain any form of communication with his siblings following their relentless verbal attacks on me, threats of possible harm on my person and other grave intolerable underhands; Mazi Nnamdi Kanu therefore assured that he would inform his brother, Mr. Emmanuel (Fine Boy), during the following Monday’s visit, to arrange for his personal doctors to visit him, in line with the agreed protocol.
7. I was therefore surprised when on Tuesday, June 6, 2023, I received numerous calls and messages from the press seeking to verify an unconfirmed information that Nnamdi Kanu’s personal doctors, who were at the SSS facility to examine him, were denied access. Additionally, Facebook posts by Nnamdi Kanu’s brother, Emmanuel, claimed that they were denied access despite prior clearance.
8. Upon learning of the situation, I promptly contacted Prof. Mike Ozekhome, SAN, who was unaware of the developments until my call. We consequently concluded that if Emmanuel and the doctors did visit the SSS Headquarters as claimed, it must have been on another arrangement separately from the agreement reached during the meeting on June 3, 2023. At that meeting, where Mazi Nnamdi Kanu was present, the SSS had specified that doctors visiting him would be introduced by Prof. Mike Ozekhome, SAN, the Lead Counsel.
9. Subsequently, Aloy Ejimakor publicly shared a letter he had written to the SSS purportedly introducing the doctors, in clear usurpation of the powers and authority of the Lead Counsel, and in violation of the agreed protocol and the SSS directive.
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10. Following blatant lies and deliberate falsehood, publicly shared by Kanunta Kanu and his cohorts, that Prof. Ozekhome and I had obstructed their doctors’ access to Nnamdi Kanu, I visited Mazi Nnamdi Kanu on June 15, 2023, to clarify the situation and understand the instructions he had given to his brother. Mazi Nnamdi Kanu clarified that he had not instructed Aloy Ejimakor to write the introduction letter; rather, he had asked Emmanuel to arrange for the doctors’ visit and provide their names to Prof. Ozekhome for further action.
11. Mazi Nnamdi Kanu then shared the names of the doctors with me and requested Prof. Mike Ozekhome, SAN, to submit the names to the SSS, along with the proposed visiting date.
12. Surprisingly, on June 20, 2023, being the scheduled visit date in the letter written by our Lead Counsel, Mandela Umegborogu, an associate of Ejimakor, and the doctors showed up at the SSS Headquarters around 5:30pm, a time when no visit is usually permitted by SSS since it was outside of their work hours. They were instructed to return the next day at 11:00am. The SSS formally informed the lead Counsel -Prof Mike Ozekome, SAN that the meeting has been approved to hold the following day at 11am. Upon being informed by the Lead Counsel, I equally passed the information to Aloy Ejimakor and requested him to communicate same to the doctors they brought.
13. On the following day being June 21, 2023, I personally went to the SSS Headquarters to ensure no hindrances to the doctors’ visit, and to avoid fabricated stories from blackmailers, I waited for hours, but they did not show up. I contacted Aloy Ejimakor via WhatsApp to inquire about the whereabouts of the doctors from the previous day, to which he claimed ignorance of the doctors’ whereabout, he even denied having their contact numbers, and consequently resorted to making very disparaging remarks in our conversation.
14. Despite the SSS’ clearance for the doctors’ visit, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s siblings and Aloy Ejimakor refused to bring the doctors, insisting that as long as Prof. Mike Ozekhome, SAN, and I were involved, that they will not bring the doctors again. This deadlock introduced by those who now pretend to care much about their brother’s health concerns, resulted in Mazi Nnamdi Kanu being without medical attention for over three weeks, despite his deteriorating health and the SSS’ approval for the visit.
15. Consequently, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s wife, Lolo Uchechi Kanu, initiated arrangements for doctors to attend to her husband’s medical needs.
16. On July 10, 2023, our Lead Counsel facilitated a visit by two Senior Medical Consultants, including a specialist cardiologist and an ENT Surgeon, recommended by Lolo Uchechi Kanu, to examine her husband, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.
17. These doctors met with Mazi Nnamdi Kanu inside the SSS Facility and subsequently conducted multiple tests and examinations on Mazi Nnamdi Kanu outside the SSS facility; following which I provided regular updates to Biafrans and the public on pertinent developments in this regard.
18. On July 20, 2023, the Federal High Court, per Hon. Justice Binta Nyako, delivered Judgment in the earlier Suit filed by our team ably led by Prof. Mike Ozehkome SAN, and consequently granted Mazi Nnamdi Kanu access to his chosen Doctors, and medical records. The judgment was immediately forwarded to SSS by our Lead Counsel, with a demand for full compliance. In line with this Judgement, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s medical records with the SSS were subsequently made available to his personal doctors too.
19. Subsequent medical examinations by his doctors led to crucial recommendations for Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s health and treatment, for which the Doctors were still following up for strict compliance, before these charlatans who see the Biafran cause as a means of livelihood and their birthright/inheritance, resorted to blackmailing these senior and seasoned consultant doctors recommended by Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s wife, which led to the termination of their engagement, leaving Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s medical care in jeopardy.
20. During an interview I granted on Biafra TV on December 30, 2023, I urged Ezigbo UmuChineke and Biafrans to question Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s siblings about their delay in bringing their own doctors who will attend to Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s health issues, after the previous ones engaged by his wife were forced out by them through their manipulations, and blackmail.
21. Interestingly , it has come to my attention that after three months, a doctor was finally brought to see Mazi Nnamdi Kanu a couple of days ago. In other words it took these blackmailers three months to bring a Doctor that would visit Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, after blackmailing and getting rid of the previous doctors. This delay, caused by undue influence and removal of the previous medical professionals, left Mazi Nnamdi Kanu dependent on the SSS’ in-house medical personnel.
22. In light of these events, the responsibility for Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s declining health raises important questions that Ezigbo UmuChineke and Biafrans should address.
23. Finally, I reiterate my earlier advice to Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s legal team and their handlers to remain focused on their task. Attempting to blackmail me or Prof. Mike Ozekhome, SAN will not aid their cause or divert attention from the critical issues at hand.
God bless you all.
We Move!
Sir Ifeanyi Ejiofor, Esq. (KSC), IPOB’s Lead Counsel, Sent this piece from Abuja.
April 3, 2024
