Court orders NMA to ascertain Nnamdi Kanu’s health condition

A federal high court in Abuja has granted an order directing the president of the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) to constitute an investigative panel to ascertain the health condition of Nnamdi Kanu.

James Omotosho, presiding judge, gave the directive on Friday while ruling on an application seeking to move the defendant from the Department of State Services (DSS) custody to the National Hospital in the federal capital territory (FCT) for treatment.

In an application on September 3, Kanu’s counsel submitted that the defendant’s health condition has been on a “worrisome decline” in custody.

Musa Liman, the vacation judge, had earlier granted leave for the application to be heard during the court’s annual leave period, citing 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,” Liman ruled.

The judge had then fixed September 15 for hearing, directing Kanu’s counsel, Uchenna Njoku (SAN), to serve processes on the DSS.

‘COMPREHENSIVE MEDICAL REPORT’

In the motion marked FHC/ABJ/CR/383/2015, Kanu asked the court to order the DSS to move him to the National Hospital for urgent medical care.

The leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) claimed that his health had deteriorated in detention, citing medical reports that revealed liver and pancreatic complications, a lump under his armpit, and dangerously low potassium levels.

Moving the application on Friday, Onyechi Ikpeazu, Kanu’s counsel, told the court that the affidavit supporting the request was deposed to by “one of the most respected professors of medicine”.

He explained that the medical examination was carried out in one of Abuja’s most sophisticated laboratories, dismissing the prosecution’s counter-affidavit as “mere conjecture”.

Ikpeazu insisted that Kanu’s doctors acted properly without consulting DSS physicians, as it is global medical practice for patients to seek a second opinion without involving their initial doctors.

On security concerns, he suggested that Kanu could be kept in a private ward at the National Hospital whose location would remain undisclosed.

“We have filed a comprehensive report of the defendant’s medical test,” he said, urging the court to grant the application.

But Adegboyega Awomolo, counsel for the federal government, opposed the request, insisting that the government has provided Kanu with adequate care in detention.

He argued that the IPOB leader had unilaterally changed his lead physician and medications without consulting DSS doctors who had managed his health for four years.

Awomolo also questioned the credibility of Kanu’s new physician, noting that he neither works at the National Hospital nor confirmed that the facility has the capacity — medically or security-wise — to handle the case.

He further raised concerns about a recommendation in Kanu’s medical report that he be flown to the United States for treatment.

“Why is he recommending America, when he knows fully well that the defendant is a flight risk? How can he guarantee that what has happened before will not happen again?” Awomolo asked.

He told the court that Kanu had repeatedly boasted about having thousands of supporters, and asked: “How do we guarantee that his supporters are not camping at the National Hospital waiting to whisk him off in the night?”

Awomolo therefore urged the court to refuse the application, describing it as premature since the prosecution had already closed its case under accelerated hearing.

He also disclosed that the NMA had set up a seven-member panel to review Kanu’s medical report and that of the DSS. He prayed the court to grant the panel one week to submit its findings.

The judge asked Ikpeazu if he was aware of the NMA intervention. Ikpeazu replied that he only learned about it in court. Asked if he objected to the panel, he said: “If it was an order of court, we have no option but to abide by it.”

THE RULING

In his verdict, Omotosho affirmed that Kanu retains the right to life.

“I wholeheartedly subscribe to the fact that the defendant needs to be alive to face his trial,” he said.

The judge, however, noted that “the fact that the defendant gave the new physician exclusive control over his health without the involvement of the medical experts of the DSS raises suspicion”.

He added that “counsel to the defendant did not challenge the fact defendant is a flight risk. The right to life and good health of the defendant remains paramount, hence an order of this court is made directing the president of the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) to constitute an investigative panel of between eight and 10 members to consider the following:

“Whether the defendant is truly suffering from the medical issues, whether the medical facility of the DSS is well-equipped to handle the medical issues of the defendant.”

The court further directed that the chief medical director of the National Hospital, or his representative, be part of the panel.

Omotosho ordered that the report, signed by the president and secretary of the NMA panel, be submitted within eight days.