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🇳🇬 Nigeria /Crime & Justice

Court rejects FG’s bid to halt Enugu hospital chief’s reinstatement

From The Punch · () English

Summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Named sources Outcome reported
  • The National Industrial Court dismissed the Federal Government's request to halt the reinstatement of Prof. Monday Igwe as Medical Director of a federal hospital in Enugu.
  • The court found the government's appeal incompetent because a valid notice of appeal had not been filed.
  • The judge criticized the appointment of a new medical director while the case was pending, calling it defiance of the judicial process.

The Federal Government's attempt to prevent the reinstatement of Prof. Monday Igwe as the Medical Director of the Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Enugu, has been rejected by the National Industrial Court in Abuja. The court dismissed the government's application for a stay of execution on its earlier judgment ordering Igwe's return to complete his tenure.

It is a settled principle of Nigerian adjectival law that an application for a stay of execution is fundamentally ancillary to, and dependent upon, the existence of a competent, valid, and subsisting appeal. Where there is no competent appeal pending before the appellate court, an application for a stay of execution cannot stand; it is incompetent and must be dismissed.

— Justice E.D. SubilimThe judge explains the legal basis for dismissing the government's application for a stay of execution.

Justice E.D. Subilim ruled on July 9 that the government's application was without merit, as there was no competent appeal before the Court of Appeal to justify a stay of execution. The judge emphasized that an application for a stay of execution is dependent on the existence of a valid appeal, which was lacking in this case.

The court found that the purported notice of appeal submitted by the applicants, which included the Coordinating Minister of Health, the Minister of State for Health, the Federal Ministry of Health, the Attorney General, the hospital, and Dr. Ngozi Unaogu, was merely an unfiled draft. It lacked any registry stamp, filing date, or proof of payment, rendering it incompetent.

An inspection of Exhibit A reveals that it is completely blank of any registry filing stamp, date, registration number, or proof of payment of filing fees. It is a mere unfiled office draft.

— Justice E.D. SubilimThe judge describes the condition of the notice of appeal submitted by the government, highlighting its invalidity.

Furthermore, Justice Subilim criticized the appointment of Dr. Ngozi Unaogu as the substantive Medical Director while the case was still pending. The judge described this action as a "flagrant defiance of the judicial process." The court also noted that delaying Igwe's reinstatement would prejudice him, as his tenure is set to expire in March 2027. Igwe's counsel welcomed the ruling, confirming that the judgment ordering his client's reinstatement remains valid and enforceable.

flagrant defiance of the judicial process.

— Justice E.D. SubilimThe judge's characterization of the appointment of a new medical director while the case was ongoing.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by The Punch. Summarized and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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