Nnamdi Kanu Sues SSS, Alleges Illegal Extraction Of His Blood Samples

The leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, has sued the State Security Service (SSS) over allegations of gross violation of his fundamental human rights.

Mr Kanu is being held by the SSS at its headquarters in Abuja, after the Nigerian government repatriated him from Kenya in June this year, an action his lawyers termed “abduction.”

He is standing trial on charges bordering on treasonable felony and terrorism before a federal court in Abuja.

Maxwell Opara, one of Mr Kanu’s lawyers, told journalists on Monday that, “a medical doctor engaged by the SSS has extracted Nnamdi Kanu’s blood samples over 21 times.”

In the new suit, Mr Opara said despite a subsisting order by the trial judge, Binta Nyako, compelling the spy agency to allow Mr Kanu change his clothes and practice his Jewish faith, the SSS flagrantly ignored the orders.

The Director-General of the SSS, Yusuf Bichi, and the Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, were listed as Respondents in the suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/1585/21.

Mr Opara, while briefing reporters on Monday, recounted his last visit to the SSS detention facility, where his client reportedly complained “bitterly” about the doctor extracting his blood, whom he suspected to be a “quack.”

“Nnamdi Kanu said his demand for the security agency to grant him access to his medical record was repeatedly refused,” Mr Opara said.

In an affidavit of urgency deposed to by Mr Kanu’s younger brother, Emmanuel, the SSS is said to have subjected the IPOB leader to “solitary confinement which is a form of mental and physical torture.”

This action, he said, “subjects the applicant (Mr Kanu) to inhuman and degrading treatment and in turn constitutes a violation of Section 34(1)(a) Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”

Mr Kanu urged the court to order the SSS and the AGF “to immediately allow” him access to “medical facility and material for the practice of his religion.

-Premium Times