Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), has cried out over his deteriorating health condition and lack of medical attention while in the custody of the Department of State Services (DSS).
Kanu accused the DSS of a deliberate attempt to deny him proper medical care despite evidence of his worsening health condition.
Kanu’s lawyer, Barrister Nnaemeka Ejiofor, who visited him at the DSS headquarters in Abuja on Wednesday, revealed that his client’s health is deteriorating rapidly due to alleged medical neglect by the DSS.
Kanu has been diagnosed with dangerously low potassium levels, which poses an imminent risk of heart failure, a condition that persists despite medication provided by the DSS.
Ejiofor quoted Kanu as saying that DSS doctors recently confirmed he has a “dangerously low potassium level” that poses an imminent risk of heart failure. According to him, the condition has persisted despite the medications provided by the DSS.
Conveying Kanu’s message, he said, “The DSS doctor himself admitted that my potassium level is dangerously low and can trigger heart failure at any time,” Kanu said in the statement. “Yet they keep giving me medicines that have no effect. My potassium continues to deplete despite everything they claim to be doing.”
The statement revealed that Kanu’s blood samples have been taken more than 50 times, including for analysis in South Africa, but no satisfactory explanation has been given for the consistent depletion.
“If there is nothing wrong with me, why have they drawn my blood more than 50 times?” Kanu queried. “Even South African authorities who analyzed my blood could not explain why my potassium keeps dropping.”
He alleged that his current health complications may be linked to what he described as poisoning during his arrest in Kenya in 2021, accusing Nigerian authorities of refusing to provide adequate medical intervention since his rendition.
“I strongly believe I may have been poisoned in Kenya to the knowledge of the Nigerian authorities. Instead of proper treatment, they keep prescribing drugs that do not work,” Kanu said.
The IPOB leader further revealed that his internal organs — including his pancreas, kidneys, and heart — are showing signs of distress.
Ejiofor said an independent medical team led by Professor Ariadje, Professor Emeritus and medical doctor, had recommended Kanu’s transfer to the National Hospital, Abuja, for comprehensive care. However, the DSS has reportedly refused to comply.
“The federal government, through the DSS, has flatly rejected every request for him to be taken to the National Hospital, which is a government-owned facility here in Abuja,” Ejiofor said.
Kanu insisted that he does not seek release on “sympathetic grounds” but wants to face trial as a healthy man.
“I want the world to know that I do not want to be discharged because I am dying,” he maintained. “I want to stand trial with my health intact and with all the facts laid bare before the public. Only a man who is alive can stand trial.”
While appealing to the Nigerian authorities to either allow him access to proper medical care at the National Hospital or permit his supporters to foot the bill for his treatment, he said, “If the federal government does not want to bear the cost of my treatment, I and my supporters are ready to pay. All I ask is to be allowed access to proper medical care”.
Ejiofor warned that the continued denial of medical attention poses a grave risk to his client’s life, urging Nigerians and the international community to hold the government accountable.