The incarcerated leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, is allegedly suffering from worsening health, according to a statement made on Tuesday by the Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide.
It came after his counsel, Ifeanyi Ejiofor stated that Kanu now suffers from gastrointestinal disease, necessitating the continual use of antacids and other accessible medical remedies.
The group repeated its plea for the Kanu case to be resolved politically.
According to the statement, the unrest that resulted in his detention was caused by the Southeast’s perceived marginalization, and should he pass away in custody, the security situation in the area will get worse.
Kanu is being held by the Department of State Services and is being tried for an alleged treasonable offense (DSS).
Ejiofor had said: “The DSS has refused to allow him to have even the smallest amount of the prescribed painkiller, which could have given him short-term respite.
“The DSS has repeatedly treated the existing court order—which specifically directed that Nnamdi Kanu should be granted access to his doctor for an independent review/investigation of his current health status—with the utmost contempt and disdain.”
Ohanaeze expressed concern over the reports regarding Kanu’s health, saying in a statement released in Enugu yesterday that the report should be very disturbing to every fair-minded patriotic Nigerian.
It said, “The fair-minded and patriotic because it is self-evident that the Nnamdi Kanu phenomenon is a product of circumstances.
“It is rather an outcome, or the effect of the orchestrated alienation of the Southeast from the centres of power in Nigeria, especially since the onset of President Buhari administration.”
Ohanaeze said the Federal Government should know that Kanu’s detention had only contributed to the enormity of insecurity in the Southeast.
“One wonders what will happen if, by the utter carelessness, negligence or unnecessary victimisation, something untoward happens to Mazi Nnamdi Kanu,” Ogbonnia said.
He recalled how some patriots such as Chief Edwin Clark, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, former president Olusegun Obasanjo, Sokoto State Governor Aminu Tambuwal, Dr. Bitrus Porgu, among others, had condemned the unjust treatment of the Igbo.
Ogbonnia said, “Governor Tambuwal in a humane and patriotic candour stated that ‘the marginalisation of the Southeast geopolitical zone by the Federal Government of Nigeria under President Muhammadu Buhari is crazy and unprecedented’.
“Tambuwal adds: ‘I feel sad and disturbed each time I see the Igbo crying of marginalisation. The Federal Government of Nigeria has been unfair to the Igbo. In all socio-economic activities, it is like the Igbo are not part of the nation’.”
Ogbonnia equally recalled that the President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Prof George Obiozor, had severally advised President Buhari that the Kanu issue was beyond the courts or the use of force; advising that it requires a political solution.
According to him, Obiozor has on a number of occasions urged the Federal Government to embrace the values of justice, equity, and fairness in their true sense for real peace, progress, unity and development to thrive in Nigeria.
“He argued that all over the world, the moment the populace becomes conscious of the existence of governance based on selective morality, outrageous paradox and double standards, the expected legitimacy from the people becomes well-nigh unattainable.
“In other words, how can the Igbo youth feel comfortable with the lopsided appointment of about 16 service chiefs to the deliberate exclusion of the entire Southeast of Nigeria?
“How can the youth condone the outrageous doormat treatment where of all the die-hard APC supporters of President Buhari from the Southeast, none of them is qualified to serve as a minister in the grade ‘A’ ministry, such as Works, Agriculture, Power, Health, Education, etc?
“The latest political recrudescence is the outright conspiracy against the Southeast when it was clear to all that it is the turn of the Southeast to produce a president for Nigeria.
“According to Tambuwal, th,ere are several reasons why the Igbo should be unhappy.
“It is the expression of dissatisfaction with the orchestrated injustice against the Igbo that Mazi Nnamdi Kanu represents.
“Unfortunately, the uninformed focus on the effect thereby ignoring the cause of the problem.
“The Ohanaeze Ndigbo, the apex Igbo socio-cultural organization and several eminent Igbo have repeatedly appealed to the heart of Mr. President to release Mazi Nnamdi Kanu on the premise of a political solution.
“The only living legend among those that fought for the Nigerian independence and the minister of Aviation in the First Republic, Chief Mbazulike Amechi, presented the request to President Buhari when he visited Abakiliki, Ebonyi State, as his last wish.
“Earlier before that, Mbazulike had also met President Buhari in Aso Rock, Abuja for the same reason.
“In the interim, common sense will ask: why deny Mazi Nnamdi Kanu the necessary access to a medical doctor? This is very curious and raises a lot of questions.
“Instructively, many uninformed Nigerians share the base reasoning of the proverbial ostrich; the ostrich buries its head in the sand, joyously flapping its wings, and believes that it has escaped from reality. As in the ostrich, the civilised world is watching!”