MedContour founder, Anuoluwapo Adepoju has been sentenced to one year of imprisonment for conducting a failed plastic surgery that resulted in the death of a patient, Nneka Onwuzuligbo.
The medical doctor was sentenced and convicted by a federal high court sitting in Lagos on Friday, May 17, 2024.
Meanwhile, the judgment came barely four years after the patient died from the plastic surgery conducted on her at the medical facility in Lagos.
Justice Mohammed Liman found her guilty and sentenced her to a one-year jail term.
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The judge, however, provided her with the choice of paying a ₦100,000 fine in place of the prison sentence received by the medical expert.
Babatunde Irukera, a former Director-General of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, expressed his satisfaction with the progress while responding to the verdict.
Today is a day of pride for me and I prosecuted Anu Adepoju and her medical practice. Though I’ve left, the case has ended in a conviction strengthening the accountability framework for all in society, professionals or otherwise. This is how society should work and grow.
Dr. Anu Adepoju and her medical practice were convicted on all 5 counts charged by FCCPC. The wheel of justice may grind slowly, but we must see it through. What we need are enforced with audacity and the will to prosecute competently and diligently. Good day for consumers of professional services”, he wrote on his X handle.
Backstory
In 2020, the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission arraigned the Lagos-based cosmetic surgeon and MedContour founder, Dr Anuoluwapo Adepoju, whose services allegedly resulted in the death of one Mrs Nneka Onwuzuligbo.
Adepoju, alongside her hospital, Med Contour Services Limited, was arraigned for allegedly obstructing the investigation by the FCCPC into the case.
In the five counts pressed against her before Justice Mohammed Liman, the FCCPC accused the cosmetic surgeon of shunning summons by the agency to appear and produce certain documents.
In a six-paragraph affidavit of completion of investigation attached to the charge sheet, the commission said it received complaints against Adepoju from one Marlene Oluwakemi, Taiwo Temilade, and Vivian Onwuzuligbo that the surgeon’s services “are unsafe for consumers,” and that she made “false, misleading and deceptive representation about the marketing of their services.”
It said, “In particular, the above-mentioned Vivian Onwuzuligbo, a member of the Mrs Nnneka Miriam Barbara Onwuzuligbo (now deceased) alleged that the deceased died as a result of the failed defendants’ cosmetic surgery and she is privy to the events that led to the demise of the deceased.”
The prosecuting counsel for the FCCPC, Babatunde Irukera, said the incidents happened between April 15 and May 4, 2020, at No. 11a Ladi Alakija Street, Lekki Phase 1, Lagos.
Irukera said Adepoju acted contrary to sections 33(3)(a) and 113(4)(a) of the FCCPC Act 2018 and was liable to be punished under sections 33(3) and 113(1) of the same Act, among others.
The defendant, however, pleaded not guilty to the five counts.
Justice Liman admitted her to bail on self-recognisance given the COVID-19 pandemic.
He adjourned till July 9 for the commencement of trial.
Earlier in the proceeding, the judge dismissed a preliminary objection by the defense lawyer, Marian Jones, challenging the validity of the charges and the court’s jurisdiction to entertain them.
Adepoju also got suspended by the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria over alleged botched butt enlargement surgery. Her license also got seized in the process.
The MDCN said Dr Anu’s suspension was in line with section 15(3)c of the Medical and Dental Practitioners Act Cap M8 LFN 2004.
Adepoju was summoned before a court by the FCCPC on July 3rd, 2020 over the alleged botched surgery conducted on a patient, Nneka Onwuzuligbo, that led to her death.
The commission also alleged that she disregarded several court summons and obstructed investigation by the commission.
