ABUJA, Nigeria – In a move that underlines the increasingly dire human rights situation in Nigeria, the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, on Thursday, April 27, 2023, issued an urgent call for the release of its leader, Nnamdi Kanu, from the Department of State Services, DSS, facility in Abuja, amid an outbreak of Tuberculosis.
Emma Powerful, the IPOB spokesperson, publicly demanded Kanu’s release, citing fears of the rapidly spreading disease in the detention centre.
Powerful accused the Nigerian government of using deceptive tactics to eliminate Kanu.
“DSS has deliberately detained a tuberculosis-infected person in close proximity to Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s cell,” Powerful claimed. “The Federal Government of Nigeria has employed all deceptive and deadly ways to eliminate Mazi Nnamdi Kanu inside DSS solitary confinement, but Chukwu Okike Abiama has kept him alive.”
Powerful painted a grim picture of the DSS facility, lamenting its rampant Tuberculosis cases and accusing it of being ill-equipped to handle the outbreak. He described the facility as lacking proper ventilation and sunlight, conditions ripe for the disease to thrive.
“Currently, the detained tuberculosis patient has infected many detainees inside the DSS solitary confinement,” Powerful disclosed in the statement. “With information available to us, many inmates have already been infected by the virus, and DSS agents are not providing medication to infected persons.”
The IPOB spokesperson warned of the possibility of a tuberculosis pandemic within the detention facility if urgent action is not taken.
“We are calling on the Red Cross Society and World Health Organisation to visit the Abuja DSS facility and give independent and unbiased reports on the situation and recommendations for treatment,” Powerful appealed. He added, “As in the character of the Nigeria Government, they will deny this report until many victims of illegal detention are dead from tuberculosis infection.”
This explosive revelation casts a spotlight on the government’s handling of detention conditions and raises questions about Nigeria’s commitment to basic human rights.
The call for international intervention underscores the seriousness of the situation and the urgent need for immediate action.
