The Federal High Court, Abuja, has ordered the President of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) to set up a team of between eight and 10 members to determine the fitness of the self-acclaimed leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, to stand trial.
Justice James Omotosho asked the NMA to ascertain whether the health challenges claimed by Kanu could prevent him from further standing trial.
Justice Omotosho issued the order while ruling on an application by Kanu, seeking to be transferred to a private ward at the National Hospital for urgent medical attention for an alleged life-threatening illness.
The judge, who reviewed arguments by Kanu’s lawyer, Onyechi Ikpeazu (SAN), and that of the prosecution, Adegboyega Awomolo (SAN), ordered that the team, to be constituted by the NMA’s president, should assess the health facilities of the Department of State Services (DSS) to determine if they were adequate to effectively take care of defendant’s ailment.
According to the judge, the team is also to determine whether or not it was necessary to transfer Kanu to the National Hospital as he requested and whether his medical status was such that could make him unfit to continue to stand trial.
Omotoso also ordered that the Chief Medical Director of the National Hospital or his representative should be a member of the team.
He ordered that the report of the team’s findings should be signed by both its chairman and secretary and should be filed in the court’s registry within eight days from today (September 26, 2025).
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