20/10/2025
Doctor Seeks Clarification from NMA Over Reported Declaration on Nnamdi Kanu’s Health Status
Abuja — A senior medical practitioner, Dr. Adefolaseye Adebomi Adebayo, an ENT/Head & Neck Surgeon and Fellow of the West African College of Surgeons (FWACS), has written an open letter to the National President of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Prof. Bala Mohammed Audu, seeking clarification over reports that the Association declared detained IPOB leader, Mr. Nnamdi Kanu, fit to stand trial.
In the letter addressed to the NMA National Secretariat in Abuja, Dr. Adebayo expressed concern about media publications attributing to the NMA a medical declaration that Kanu’s illness is “not life-threatening” and that he is “fit for trial.”
Dr. Adebayo questioned the legal and constitutional basis for such an action by the Association, noting that the NMA’s functions, as defined by its Constitution and By-Laws, are professional, ethical, and advocacy-based — not judicial or medico-legal in nature.
“To the best of my knowledge,” he wrote, “nowhere in the NMA Constitution empowers the Association itself — as opposed to independent medical experts or court-appointed panels — to declare a defendant fit or unfit to stand trial.”
He further outlined standard medico-legal procedures, emphasizing that when an accused person’s fitness to stand trial is in question, the court typically appoints qualified medical experts or a multidisciplinary medical board to assess the individual and submit a report for judicial determination.
“The NMA, as a professional body, does not issue such declarations in its institutional capacity,” he stated, “unless merely acting as an administrative conduit to nominate experts — in which case it should be made clear that the opinion emanates from individual practitioners, not the NMA itself.”
Dr. Adebayo, therefore, posed a series of questions to the NMA leadership:
Under what section of the NMA Constitution or By-Laws does the Association have the authority to constitute or endorse a medical panel to determine a person’s fitness for trial?
Was the medical panel that examined Mr. Kanu constituted as a court-appointed body through the NMA, or was it publicly presented as an NMA declaration?
If the latter, how does such a pronouncement align with the Association’s constitutional and ethical boundaries?
The letter, now circulating within the medical community, has sparked discussion among practitioners who share concerns about maintaining the professional independence and institutional neutrality of the NMA in politically sensitive or high-profile legal matters.
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