Court orders MDCN to reinstate Dr. Elusoji to medical register

The Federal High Court in Abuja has directed the Registrar of the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) to immediately restore the name of Dr. Sunday O. Elusoji to the national register of medical and dental practitioners.

Justice Obioma Egwuatu, who gave the order in a judgment delivered on April 10, 2025, also mandated the MDCN to formally notify the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH), the Edo State Ministry of Health, and the Federal Ministry of Health about the reinstatement.

The court held that, in accordance with Sections 16(4) and (7) of the Medical and Dental Practitioners Act (MDPA) and the judgment of the Court of Appeal in case number CA/ABJ/CR/115/2022, Dr. Elusoji is lawfully entitled to resume medical practice in Nigeria.

Justice Egwuatu further ruled that the six-month suspension imposed by the Court of Appeal had expired on October 8, 2021, and that no valid appeal was pending before the Supreme Court against the appellate court’s decision.

The judgment followed a suit filed by Dr. Elusoji, through his counsel, Ikechukwu Emery, after the MDCN failed to comply with the October 27, 2022 Court of Appeal ruling which had set aside the earlier decision of the Medical and Dental Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal (MDPDT).

Dr. Elusoji, a Consultant Surgeon and Professor at UBTH, was in 2021 found guilty by the MDPDT of alleged professional misconduct involving the treatment of a patient, Mr. Uwa Osagie, at his private facility, Our Medical Centre, in Benin City.

While the tribunal had ordered his name struck off the medical register, the Court of Appeal later overturned the decision, reducing the penalty to a six-month suspension effective from April 8, 2021.

Despite the appellate judgment, the MDCN refused to reinstate him, prompting the latest legal action that resulted in the Federal High Court’s order compelling his immediate reinstatement.