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The family of Nnamdi Kanu has accused the Department of State Services, DSS, and the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria, MDCN, of allegedly subjecting the IPOB leader’s independent medical team to sustained harassment.

The allegation was contained in a statement released by Prince Emmanuel Kanu on behalf of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and the Okwu-Kanu Family of Umuahia, Abia State. Attached to the statement was a petition addressed to the Registrar of the MDCN, requesting urgent intervention over the alleged intimidation of Kanu’s personal physicians.

“The Okwu-Kanu Family hereby issues this urgent press statement to expose the systematic harassment of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s independent physicians by the Department of State Services (DSS) and the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN)—harassment that continues even though the core medical issues are sub judice and pending before the Court of Appeal,” the family said, alleging that the DSS mishandled Kanu’s medical condition and was now attempting to victimise the doctors who later attended to him.

“While in DSS custody, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s health was systematically neglected and mismanaged. According to the independent medical team, state-appointed doctors allowed his potassium levels to fall to a life-threatening 1.9 mmol/L—a level capable of triggering cardiac arrest and sudden death. His hypertension remained poorly controlled, his kidney function deteriorated to established renal impairment, and serious cardiac abnormalities—including Left Ventricular Diastolic Dysfunction and Cardiac Septal Hypertrophy—went untreated,” the family alleged.

The family further claimed that Kanu’s condition improved following the intervention of his personal physician, Emeritus Professor Dr. Martin Aghaji.

“When Emeritus Professor Dr. Martin Aghaji and his independent medical team finally gained access, they found a man on the brink of collapse. Through their professional intervention, his potassium level rose from 2.1 to 2.9 mmol/L—still below safe levels, but a clear demonstration of genuine medical progress. Episodes of nosebleeds, fainting, light-headedness and swollen feet ceased. His headaches subsided to an occasional level,” the statement noted.

According to the family, instead of receiving recognition for their efforts, Kanu’s independent medical team has allegedly become the target of intimidation and persecution by the same agency they accused of failing to provide adequate medical care.

The statement alleged that the DSS lodged a petition against Professor Aghaji before the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria, accusing him of engaging in “unethical practices” after adjusting medications that the independent medical team considered medically necessary.

The family also recalled that on September 26, 2025, the Federal High Court in Abuja directed the President of the Nigerian Medical Association, NMA, to establish an investigative panel to assess Kanu’s health condition. It further alleged that an earlier medical report, which was not authorised by the NMA, had been relied upon in a manner that misrepresented his actual health status.

The family maintained that the dispute surrounding the court-ordered medical examination of September 26, 2025, remains before the Court of Appeal and is therefore sub judice. It explained that Kanu’s petition seeks to halt the alleged harassment of his doctors and secure his right to independent medical care while in the custody of the Nigerian Correctional Service.

The family also condemned the reported arrest of Professor Aghaji by the DSS, alleging that the physician was targeted for disclosing the true state of Kanu’s health and taking steps to prevent further deterioration.

It further disclosed that another member of Kanu’s medical team, Dr. Charles Ndukwu, has been directed to appear before an Investigation Panel of the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria.

“This is no longer an isolated action against one physician. It is a coordinated campaign, in the family’s view, to silence every doctor who documented the truth and provided the care the DSS failed to provide.

“The continuing harassment of Professor Aghaji and Dr. Ndukwu raises serious concerns that independent medical witnesses may be intimidated and that evidence relevant to the pending appeal may be compromised,” the statement added.

Among its demands, the family called for an immediate end to what it described as the harassment, intimidation and legal persecution of Professor Aghaji, Dr. Ndukwu and every member of Kanu’s independent medical team. It also requested the withdrawal of the MDCN summons issued to Dr. Ndukwu and the suspension of all proceedings involving Professor Aghaji.

The family equally demanded a transparent investigation into the alleged falsification of Kanu’s medical records during his detention by the DSS, an official explanation regarding the alleged arrest and detention of Professor Aghaji, and a public assurance from the MDCN that no medical practitioner would be punished for providing independent, evidence-based care to any patient, irrespective of custodial status.

Other requests included unrestricted and confidential access for Kanu to his chosen medical practitioners under the exclusive authority of the Nigerian Correctional Service, as well as the immediate assumption of full responsibility for his healthcare by the Correctional Service in accordance with the Nigerian Correctional Service Act, 2019, and the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, also known as the Mandela Rules.

The family disclosed that copies of the petition had been forwarded to the governments of the United States, the United Kingdom and Israel, alongside relevant Nigerian authorities and international human rights organisations.

The statement concluded: “The Okwu-Kanu Family calls on the Nigerian authorities to respect the principle of sub judice and to cease all extra-judicial harassment of medical practitioners who have simply discharged their professional duty.

“The targeting of physicians who documented the truth and intervened to prevent further deterioration is, in the family’s view, an assault on the integrity of the medical profession and on the rule of law itself.”

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