By Correspondent in Abuja.
(C) Google.
Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), has filed N50 billion damages suit against the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) over an alleged forged medical report submitted in his ongoing trial before the Federal High Court in Abuja.
The suit, marked CV/4584/25 and filed on Nov. 12 at the Abuja High Court by his lawyer, Maxwell Opara, seeks, among others, a court order directing the NMA to conduct a proper and independent medical examination on the claimant by specialists not linked to the defendants.
Kanu also demands the withdrawal and public retraction of the medical report submitted to the court and seeks a N500 million exemplary damages claim for alleged malicious fabrication and abuse of professional authority.
Listed as defendants in the suit are the NMA, its President, Dr Bala Audi, and nine other medical experts who purportedly authored the contested report.
They include Dr Benjamin Egbon, Prof. Emem Abraham, Dr Ajibare Adeola, Dr Temitope Farombi, Dr Sunday Owolade, Dr Mustapha Salihu, Dr Yarima Yusuf, Dr Nwosu Ekeoma, and Dr Benjamin Olowojebutu.
According to Kanu, the defendants, in disregard of a Federal High Court directive, failed to personally examine him but still submitted a report dated September 23, which he described as “false, fabricated and intended to mislead the court.”
He claimed that the report discredited his genuine health concerns, thereby subjecting him to further suffering and risk of irreversible health deterioration while in detention.
“Despite the court’s order, no medical examination was ever conducted on me. “Yet, a report was submitted to the court which is entirely false and not based on any interaction with me,”Kanu stated in his claim.
He accused the defendants of malice, negligence, professional misconduct, and conspiracy to pervert the course of justice by issuing the report without performing the required medical assessment.
Kanu is also seeking a declaration that the report is invalid and that the defendants’ action violated his fundamental rights to dignity and fair hearing under Sections 34 and 36 of the 1999 Constitution.
Other reliefs sought by Kanu include a perpetual injunction restraining the defendants from further publishing or relying on any false medical report concerning him, and N15 million as cost of litigation.
Our Correspondent reports that the suit is yet to be assigned to a judge for hearing.
Edited by Dada Ahmed.
