IPOB appeared to have split into factions following Mr Kanu's re-arrest in June 2021.
Aloy Ejimakor, special counsel to Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), has reacted to an IPOB's statement which banned him from visiting Mr Kanu in the custody of the State Security Service (SSS).
The Head of the Directorate of State (DOS) of IPOB, Chika Edoziem, had, in a statement on 8 June, asked Mr Ejimakor and Emmanuel Kanu (a brother to the IPOB leader) to stop visiting Mr Kanu at the SSS facility with an independent doctor except with the permission of Mike Ozekhome, the lead counsel to the IPOB leader.
Mr Edoziem suggested that apart from Mr Ozekhome and his colleague, Ifeanyi Ejiofor, the secessionist group does not recognise Mr Ejimakor as Mr Kanu's lawyer.
The head of the IPOB DOS spoke on the heels of a botched visit of two medical doctors, allegedly led by Mr Ejimakor, at the SSS facility on 6 June to carry out a medical examination on Mr Kanu.
Ejimakor reacts
In a statement on Saturday, Mr Ejimakor described Mr Edoziem's allegations as "defamatory."
The lawyer claimed that the court order on visitations with Mr Kanu maintained that only the IPOB leader has the "sole power and discretion to choose whoever he desires visitation from."
"No other person can choose or impose visitors on Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, not even the SSS, the Nigerian government, the courts, the IPOB and Mazi Nnamdi Kanu's lawyers or relatives.
"Therefore, Chika Edoziem and his ilk have no place in this matter of who is approved to visit Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, be it his lawyers, his doctors or his relatives," he said.
Mr Ejimakor said Mr Kanu is the only one who can invite a medical doctor of his choice to visit him at the facility, explaining that the IPOB leader sanctioned his visit to Mr Kanu with the doctors.
"For the avoidance of doubt, it was Mazi Nnamdi Kanu who directly assigned this critical task to me as part of my complex brief as his special counsel and as part of all-round efforts to garner the urgent independent medical care that he requires," he said.
The lawyer said there was nothing in "this critical task" that made it necessary that Mr Kanu's health matter must be exclusive to one person - thereby excluding him and Mr Kanu's family.
He warned Mr Edoziem that blocking independent medical doctors from visiting Mr Kanu, despite knowing that the IPOB leader invited them, would amount to him (Edoziem) "deliberately endangering" Mr Kanu's life.
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"More so, it is pertinent to drum it home that it is inherently evil for anyone to use the life-and-death matter of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu's health to settle phantom scores with his family or any of his lawyers," Mr Ejimakor stated.
Background
IPOB appeared to have split into factions following Mr Kanu's re-arrest in June 2021. Since his ongoing detention at the SSS facility, Mr Kanu has been largely inactive in running the separatist group.
IPOB, in August 2022, announced Mr Edoziem as its temporary new leader until Mr Kanu was released, but that was after some factions had already broken away from the group.
For instance, Simon Ekpa, a Finnish-Nigerian citizen, heads IPOB Autopilot, a faction of the IPOB.
Like others, Mr Ekpa's faction has continued to differ with IPOB on certain issues, such as enforcing the suspended Monday sit-at-home in the South-east.
The crisis has recently hit the legal team of Mr Kanu, with the IPOB leader's family sacking two of his lawyers - Messrs Ozekhome and Ejiofor - on Thursday.
Although the lawyers have dismissed the sack, the development only confirmed the strained relationship among those fighting for Mr Kanu's release from the SSS custody.
While Messrs Ekpa and Ejimakor belong to the same camp as Mr Kanu's family, Messrs Ozekhome and Ejiofor enjoy the backing of IPOB.
The cause of the crisis is not clear for now.
