Mike Ozekhome, SAN, the lawyer representing Nnamdi Kanu has said there was a need for his clients to have access to quality medical attention, lamenting that his health has deteriorated badly.
Ozekhome who spoke at the Supreme Court yesterday told the court that though Kanu was earlier scheduled to undergo surgery, the DSS, on FG’s instruction, refused to release him to go for the medical operation.
Ozekhome spoke as the Supreme Court, yesterday, adjourned to September 14, the appeal seeking to compel the Federal Government to release the embattled leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu, from detention.
A five-member panel of the apex court headed by Justice Inyang Okoro adjourned the matter on a day that Kanu, through his team of lawyers led by Mike Ozekhome, SAN, drew attention to an application he filed to be transferred from custody of the Department of State Services, DSS, to Kuje prison.
The senior lawyer said he was afraid that his client may die in detention if urgent steps were not taken to grant him access to quality healthcare.
“My lords, it is only the living that can stand trial,” Ozekhome, SAN, pleaded as he urged the apex court to hear his client’s two pending applications.
However, the government lawyer, Mr. Tijani Gazzali, SAN, asked for a further adjournment of the case to enable him to file his reply to Kanu’s applications.
While adjourning the matter, the apex court said it has so many pending election cases, stressing that it may not be able to prepare its verdict on Kanu’s case within 90 days as required by the law, should it proceed to hear the two applications as prayed.
