Kanu's lawyer, Ifeanyi Ejiofor, had raised an alarm after a routine visit to the IPOB leader at the detention facility of Nigeria’s secret police.
The Igbo apex socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide has warned the Nigerian government that the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu must not die in detention.
Kanu's lawyer, Ifeanyi Ejiofor, had raised an alarm after a routine visit to the IPOB leader at the detention facility of Nigeria’s secret police, Department of State Services (DSS), that he is critically ill.
The lawyer accused the DSS of violating the orders of Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court Abuja that his personal doctor should be examining him.
“Nnamdi Kanu is currently suffering from gastrointestinal illness, which necessitates the constant use of antacids and other available medical treatments,” Ejiofor had said.
He added that “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”.
Reacting in a statement titled, "Nnamdi Kanu Must Not Die In Prison," Ohanaeze described the report as worrisome to any fair-minded patriotic Nigerian.
Signed by the organisation’s National Publicity Secretary, Dr Alex Ogbonnia, the pan-Igbo body warned the Nigerian government that nothing untoward should happen to Kanu in detention.
The statement read, "The above report should be very worrisome to any fair-minded patriotic Nigerian."
"It is rather an outcome, or the effect of the orchestrated alienation of the South East from the centres of power in Nigeria, especially since the onset of President Buhari administration," it also said.
It continued, "Several patriots such as Chief E. K. Clarke, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, Dr. Bitrus Porgu among others have decried the unjust treatment to (sic) the Igbo of the South East. The Governor of Sokoto State, Alhaji Aminu Waziri Tambuwal in a humane and patriotic candour stated that ‘the marginalisation of the South-East 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 marginalization. The Federal Government of Nigeria has been unfair to the Igbo. In all socio-economic activities is like the Igbo are not part of the nation.’”
The statement further said, "The President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Ambassador Professor George Obiozor, an erudite professor and seasoned diplomat, has on several occasions advised President Buhari that the issue of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu is beyond the courts or the use of force; advising that it requires a political solution.
"Obiozor 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 South East of Nigeria? How can the youth condone the outrageous doormat treatment where of all the die-hard APC supporters of President Buhari from the South East, 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 South East when it was clear to all that it is the turn of the South East to produce a president for Nigeria. According to Tambuwal, there 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 at (sic) 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 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.
"Finally, it is common knowledge that the incarceration of Nnamdi Kanu has rather contributed to the enormity of insecurity in the South East and one wonders what will happen if, by the utter carelessness, negligence or unnecessary victimization, something untoward happens to Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.
"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!"