Enugu psychiatric hospital MD, others lose appeal against senior nurse

Thursday, January 30, 2025 - The Court of Appeal, Enugu Division, has dismissed the appeal brought by Dr. Ngozi Unaogu, the Medical Director of the Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Enugu, along with three consultant psychiatrists- Drs Ubochi Vincent, Justin Acho, and Ugwuonye Onyekachi against senior nurse Afam Ndu.

Recall that the hospital has witnessed a series of crises, culminating in one of the cases before the court.

The appeal, designated CA/E/47/2022, challenged the 2021 ruling of the Enugu State High Court in a defamation case initiated by Mr Ndu.

The defamation suit started in 2017 when nurses Buzor Maduka, Tina Okolo, Sunday Okoli and Afam Ndu rose in condemnation of a job racketeering by one Mrs. Stella Achalla, former secretary to the then Medical Director of the Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Dr. Jojo Onwukwe.

Mrs. Achalla was later convicted of the crime and sentenced to seven years in prison and ordered to refund N15 million she had unlawfully obtained from the job scam.

However, the nurses who raised the alarm faced backlash from certain doctors who viewed their actions as an affront.

The doctors wrote to the ministry to cancel the promotion of the nurses on the basis that they went to school without permission, which later turned out to be untrue.

In the case of Afam, they wrote that he wasn’t properly employed and he doesn’t have the necessary qualifications to be so employed.

Angered by the petition which was signed by the four doctors mentioned above, nurse Afam went to court to seek redress, alleging that he has been defamed by the petition.

After the trial which lasted for over 4 years, Justice E.M. Egumgbe of Enugu state High Court on the 10th of December, 2021, ruled that “the entire contents of the allegation against the plaintiff in a Petition dated 10/7/17 in Ref; No- NMA/FNPHE/0004 addressed to the Minister of States for Health as signed by the defendants are false, malicious, vexatious and constitutes actionable libel which has caused the plaintiff odium, contempt, ridicule and caricature before right thinking persons.

“Immediate retraction by the defendants of the libelous defamatory statements against the plaintiff together with an unreserved apology in one National Newspapers of widespread in Nigeria on or before 30 days from today.”

The court issued “AN ORDER of perpetual injunction restraining the defendants acting by themselves, agents, privies, surrogates or in which ever guise from continuous publication of slanderous or libelous defamatory statements against the plaintiff,” and a fine of “2,500,000 (Two million five hundred thousand naira) as general damages jointly and severally against the defendants for the unjust libelous publication which defamed the character and reputation of the plaintiff.”

Dissatisfied with the High Court ruling, the doctors argued before the appellate court that the letter they sent to the Ministry of Health discrediting Ndu was privileged information.

They based their appeal on two issues, including whether the trial court was right to rule that their petition against Ndu was false, malicious, and defamatory.

However, a three-man panel of the appellate court, led by Hon. Justice Zainab Bage Abubakar, while delivering in unanimous judgement struck out the appeal, stating that it lacked merit.

The panel concluded that the appellants’ grounds of appeal did not substantiate their claims.

Justice Abubakar’s ruling was unanimously upheld by the two other justices on the panel- Justice Joseph Eyo. Ekanem and Justice Zainab Bage Abubakar.

However, the last is yet to be heard as Dr. Unogu upon assumption of duty as the Ag. MD of the hospital in 2023, set up a senior staff committee headed by herself with Dr. Ubochi as her Vice to review the matter which was long decided by the court in 2017.

When form 48 was served to them, they said their action was premised on the fact that the matter is still before the Appeal.

With the recent appeal decided in Ndu’s favour, the coast is now clear for the duo of Drs Ubochi and Unogu to show cause why they won’t be committed to prison.