The bid by detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, to secure urgent medical treatment at the National Hospital, Abuja, hit a setback on Monday after the presiding judge declared lack of jurisdiction to hear the application.
Kanu, who is standing trial on a seven-count terrorism charge, had through his lead counsel, Chief Kanu Agabi, SAN, filed a motion ex-parte seeking his transfer from the custody of the Department of State Services (DSS) to the hospital.
In the application marked FHC/ABJ/CR/383/2025, the IPOB leader lamented a sharp decline in his health, citing medical examinations that flagged issues with his pancreas, liver, dangerously low potassium levels, and an emerging lump under his armpit. His doctors, he added, had formally recommended his transfer to the National Hospital, but their letter to the DSS Director-General went unanswered.
At Monday’s sitting, Justice Musa Liman explained that the fiat granted him by the Chief Judge to preside as a vacation judge had expired, stripping him of jurisdiction to entertain the motion. He therefore returned the casefile to the Chief Judge for reassignment, while recommending that the matter be treated with urgency in view of Kanu’s health concerns.
Earlier in the proceedings, Kanu’s lawyer, Uchenna Njoku, SAN, informed the court that he had just been served with a 37-paragraph counter affidavit filed by the Federal Government to oppose the application, and sought time to respond. Federal Government’s counsel, Chief Adegboyega Awomolo, SAN, did not oppose the request.
The case will now await reassignment by the Chief Judge for further hearing.
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