Efforts to stop the trial of Dr Sunday Olusoji before a medical tribunal failed yesterday after the patient who complained against him denied withdrawing his petition.
Uwa Osagie, resident in Benin City, had earlier petitioned the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) that Dr Olusoji was negligent in his practice during a surgery he performed on the petitioner following a gunshot wound in March 2013.
He claimed his doctor did not do an x-ray before binding his shot leg, leaving pellets still embedded within, resulting in a later amputation of his right leg.
The tribunal was read a letter Osagie had purportedly written in which he said his petition was in error.
But Osagie appeared before the tribunal on crutches to say he was not aware of the letter.
“I’m not aware of this letter. I did not write it. I could not have written for the withdrawal of the case and still travel from Benin to Abuja to appear before this tribunal,” he said.
Producing an earlier affidavit to compare the signatures, he disowned the signature on the letter as his.
“This is not my signature, my lord. I have an affidavit here. This is a forged signature,” said Osagie.
“We are shocked,” Olusoji’s counsel Tunde Iluremi told the tribunal while asking for an adjournment.
The doctor himself was not present before the tribunal. His counsel’s excuse that he was sitting a professional examination in Lagos was regarded as unprofessional and unethical.
But the tribunal will be set for Olusoji’s arraignment tomorrow when he is expected to take a plea before the disciplinary tribunal sitting four days this week.
It will continue hearing in four separate cases against doctors, while others face arraignment.
It could rule on some of the cases as early as Friday
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