Controversy has continued to trail the contrasting medical reports on Nnamdi Kanu’s health condition tendered during his trial and eventual imprisonment.
His family has raised fresh alarm over the alleged continued harassment of his personal physician by both the Department of State Services (DSS) and the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) over the independent medical report.
In a statement by its spokesman, Emmanuel Kanu, the Okwu-Kanu family, cried out over an ongoing “systematic harassment” of Kanu’s independent physicians for carrying out their professional duties.
The Kanu family raised the alarm on the heels of an official petition dated August 1, 2026, which Kanu sent to the Registrar of MDCN from the Sokoto Custodial Centre alleging harassment and intimidation of his medical team, falsification of his health condition.
In the petition to the MDCN, the IPOB leader said: “I am no longer in DSS custody. I have been convicted and transferred to Sokoto Correctional Centre under the exclusive jurisdiction of the Nigerian Correctional Service.
“Yet, the harassment of my medical team continues unabated, suggesting a coordinated campaign that transcends agency boundaries and constitutes a grave violation of my rights and the rights of my physicians, and the rule of law.”
During the period Kanu was in DSS custody, his health had deteriorated which necessitated the high court to issue an order on September 26, 2025 for his medical examination.
It turned out that the medical report presented by the DSS before the court was at variance with the medical opinion of the independent physicians led by Emeritus Professor of Cardiothoracic surgery, Martin Aghaji.
Aghaji was reportedly abducted by DSS operatives in a midnight raid in July, whisked to Lagos and then to Abuja before he was released after 72 hours in custody.
A member of his medical team, Dr Charles Ndukwu, was said to have been invited by MDCN, thereby harassing him over a matter that was already in court.
The Okwu-Kanu family is now saying the ongoing harassment of the independent physicians was uncalled for since the “core medical issues” in the two divergent medical reports were among the issues before the Court of Appeal.
Emmanuel Ugwu-Nwogo
