The leader of the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, has written to the State Security Service (SSS) to request permission to have access to his new doctor.

Mr Kanu who wrote to the secret police through his lawyer, Mike Ozekhome, informed the service that his known medical doctor, Cfine Okorochukwu, is out of the country, and requested a formal engagement with his new doctor.

According to the letter dated June 16 and addressed to the SSS legal director, Mr Kanu reminded the Service of a prior joint meeting held between the legal department and the in-house medical personnel, at which it was agreed that a medical doctor should be allowed to see him for a medical review before embarking on a surgical operation of his left ear.

“The said medical doctors need to personally meet with our client for a formal engagement since he would be meeting them for the first time ever,” Mr Kanu’s letter partly reads.

Mr Kanu also confirmed his new doctors Uche Ukwuije and David Ukoha, would be available for a visit on Tuesday, June 20, 2023 at 10:00 a.m.

Mr Kanu is currently facing treason charges in the Federal High Court in Abuja.

He is being held in the custody of the State Security Service (SSS) at its headquarters in Abuja, following the Nigerian government’s extraordinary rendition of him from Kenya in 2021, which his attorneys described as “abduction.”

Asari Dokubo, a Niger Delta activist, Friday weighed in on the continued detention of the leader of the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, saying that releasing the separatists’ leader would be equal to rewarding criminality.

Mr Kanu, who was granted bail in 2017 after spending roughly 19 months in SSS prison, was said to have violated all of the conditions established for his bail by the Federal High Court, forcing then-Attorney-General Abubakar Malami to seek bail revocation.

Former President Muhammadu Buhari, on the other hand, had also declared that he will not intervene to secure Nnamdi Kanu’s release, claiming that doing so would be a form of interference into court processes.

Meanwhile, since the coming of the new administration, prominent leaders particularly from the South-East region have advocated for the release of the separatist leader. 

Governor Chukwuma Soludo had on May 26 implored then president-elect, Tinubu to release Mr Kanu, saying he is an advocate of the rule of law, who believes in the cause of Mr Kanu.

His counterpart, Governor Peter Mbah of Enugu State had also discussed the issue of Mr Kanu when he met with President Tinubu recently.