A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has ordered the Department of State Services, DSS, to allow the leader of Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu, access to his medical records.
Trial judge, Justice Binta Nyako, in a judgment, said that the DSS objections to Kanu’s request was unmeritorious.
The court held that Kanu was constitutionally entitled to have access to both the records he requested for and medical doctors of his choice.
The judge directed that the independent medical examination of Kanu by his personal physicians should be supervised by the DSS with the entire process recorded and sealed for security purpose.
Kanu, had by lawyer led by Chief Mike Ozekhome, SAN, had in 2022 sued DSS and its Director General.
The IPOB leader had prayed the court for leave to, “apply for judicial review in the form of an order of mandamus, compelling the respondents to allow the applicant unhindered access to his medical doctors to enable them conduct an independent examination of his present deteriorating health condition.
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“An order of this court granting leave to the applicant to apply for judicial review in the form of an order of mandamus, compelling the respondents to avail the applicant with all his medical records, from June 29, 2021, till date.”
The medical records he had sought from the DSS, include; his admission records, medical and clinical notes, nursing notes, observation charts and documentation during treatment or stay-in-hospital, laboratory test results, pharmaceutical records, radiological scans, images and reports, blood transfusion records, physiotherapy and rehabilitative treatment records, clinical findings, as well as diagnosis and treatment prescribed records.
DSS, had in a preliminary objection, urged the court to dismiss the suit for want of jurisdiction.
