ABUJA, Nigeria — The Federal High Court in Abuja on Thursday, July 20, 2023, ordered the Department of State Services, DSS, to allow Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, access to his medical records.
Justice Binta Nyako held that the DSS objections to Mr. Kanu’s request lacked merit, ruling that Kanu was constitutionally entitled to access the requested records and consult medical doctors.
However, the judge stipulated that the DSS must supervise Kanu’s independent medical examination by his physicians. The entire process, she instructed, should be recorded and sealed for security purposes.
The lawsuit, filed on behalf of Kanu by a team of lawyers headed by Chief Mike Ozekhome, SAN, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/2341/2022, named the DSS and its Director General as the 1st and 2nd respondents.
Kanu’s legal team sought a court order to compel the DSS to allow their client “unhindered access to his medical doctors to enable them conduct an independent examination of his present deteriorating health condition.”
Additionally, they requested the court to mandate the DSS to provide Kanu with all his medical records dating from June 29, 2021, until now.
The list of records sought by Kanu included his admission records, medical and clinical notes, nursing notes, observation charts, documentation during treatment or stay in hospital, laboratory test results, pharmaceutical records, radiological scans, images and reports, blood transfusion records, physiotherapy and rehabilitative treatment records, clinical findings, as well as diagnosis and treatment prescribed records.
The DSS, however, contested the suit, arguing that the court lacked jurisdiction and referencing a previous ruling by Justice Taiwo Taiwo (rtd.) on June 3, 2022.
In the earlier case, the court had dealt substantially with the issue of allowing Kanu access to his personal physician.
It argued that this new suit was essentially a rehash of the previous one and noted that Kanu had filed an appeal against that judgment.
The recent developments mark a turning point in the ongoing saga surrounding the IPOB leader, who continues to agitate for the independence of Biafra, a secessionist state in southeastern Nigeria.
