A sworn document filed by lead counsel, Chief Mike Ozekhome, exposes Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s health condition in DSS custody.
The statement identified low potassium in the blood as a major health concern of the Biafran separatist leader. The statement also indicated that efforts by DSS doctors to identify the cause of low potassium have so far failed.
Low potassium level in the blood, according to medical experts, may result from vomiting, diarrhea, adrenal gland disorders, or use of water pills.
It makes the muscles feel weak, cramp, twitch, or even become paralyzed. More alarmingly, it can cause abnormal heart rhythms.
Incidentally, Kanu’s lawyers indicated in the sworn statement that he has a pre-existing heart condition for which he was receiving treatment.
DSS doctors, according to the statement, are unable to “medically fathom the explanation for the continued failure of various treatments…”
This led them to wonder whether those who “abducted” Kanu in Kenya “injected (him) with a dangerous substance…”
The statement also alleged that “various forms of brutal torture and inhuman treatment and degradation he suffered worsened his health condition.
This contributed to a mild cardiac arrest he suffered before they brought him back to Nigeria,” according to the statement.
Kanu’s health condition has “continued to take a downward spiral since then.”
The statement also claimed that DSS medical personnel “repeatedly informed him that they could not ascertain the reason for the depletion of potassium” in his blood.
“(DSS) are basically using (Kanu) as a guinea pig while carrying out a trial-and-error exercise, as they keep changing his drugs and increasing the dosage without any improvement whatsoever in his health condition.”
Other health challenge enablers
The lawyers also indicated that Kanu’s peculiar detention worsens his health condition.
According to the statement, DSS, holds Kanu in “solitary confinement” thereby exposing him to “mental and psychological torture and degradation of his human person.”
DSS is the Department of State Security, the secret police holding Kanu on treason charges at an Abuja High Court.
Chief Ozekhome filed and successfully argued an application decided by Judge Binta Nyako on Thursday 20 July.
The judge ordered DSS to grant Kanu access to his medical records and allow him to undergo an independent medical examination, free from their supervision.
Judge Nyako however ruled that the DSS should be present to record the medical examination “for security reasons.”
Slug: Ozekhome exposes Kanu’s health condition in court papers.
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