The Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) committee set up to assess the health status of the detained leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, has sought for more time do a thorough job and complete the report.
This latest request has contradicted an earlier report that the NMA has carried out the court-ordered health examinations on Kanu and submitted its report to the Attorney General of the Gederation (AGF).
The Secretary-General of the NMA, Dr. Ben Egbo, confirmed this on Sunday, saying the report of the evaluation had been forwarded to the AGF, adding that any enquiry on the matter should be directed to the AGF.
Egbo said the examination was ordered by the court, adding that “the court gave an order that we should do it within eight days, and immediately the Department of State Services wrote to us, we summoned a committee of seven doctors with one coordinator, making it eight.
“We had the seven doctors from the seven geopolitical zones of Nigeria with different fields of specialty in Ophthalmology, Neurology, Urology, Gastroenterology, and other various areas of specialty.
In a new twist, the Department of State Services (DSS)’s lawyer, Suraj Sa’ada, SAN, has told Justice Omotosho of the Federal High Court in Abuja on Wednesday that the medical panel was yet to conclude its assignment.
Sa’ada said the panel said it needed to do a thorough job and therefore, should be given adequate time, and suggested that the committee be given another one week to enable it conclude its task.
Kanu’s counsel, Onyechi Ikpeazu, SAN, did not object to the one week adjournment sought by Sa’ada, and Justice Omotosho adjourned the matter to Oct. 16.
The Federal High Court in Abuja had on September 26 ordered the NMA to, within eight days, constitute a panel of medical experts to assess the health condition of Kanu.
