We’re not trying cosmetic surgeon for murder, says FCCPC

The Chief Executive, Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, Dr Babatunde Irukera, on Friday said a Lagos-based cosmetic surgeon, Dr Anuoluwapo Adepoju, whose services allegedly led to the death of one Mrs Nneka Onwuzuligbo, would not face trial for murder, Irukera disclosed this on ChannelTV Sunrisedaily.

Irukera also stated that she was arraigned over issues relating to complaints about the standard of the services she rendered to clients as a cosmetic surgeon.
Adepoju and her clinic, Med Contour Service Limited, had been arraigned on July 3, 2020, before Justice Mohammed Liman of the Federal High Court in Lagos for allegedly obstructing investigation into the case and ignoring summons by the agency to appear before it and produce certain documents.
The commission, in a six-paragraph affidavit of completion of investigation attached to the charge sheet, said it received complaints against the medical doctor 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 in relation to the marketing of their services.”

It said there had been an allegation that the “deceased died as a result of the failed defendant’s cosmetic surgery and she is privy to the events that led to the demise of the deceased,” adding that the incidents happened between April 15 and May 4, 2020, at No. 11a Ladi Alakija Street, Lekki Phase 1, Lagos.
Irukera had 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.
But the cosmetic surgeon denied the allegations. Irukera, who spoke during an interview on Channels TV, explained that it became clear to the commission that services provided by Adepoju and her clinic had to stop pending clarification from other regulatory authorities, when it received complaints against her, some of which he said were “alarming” and “damaging.”
Immediately we called for additional information, there was a barrage. So, it was clear to us that these operations had to stop until we could clarify, and we needed to know from other regulatory authorities that the business was safe to continue to operate.

“We did what we call an interim seal, and then opened an investigation. After we opened the investigation, more complaints came in, a lot more information — some of it alarming, some of it damaging,” he said.
He also accused the surgeon of neither responding to the agency nor acknowledging that a regulatory process was ongoing.
But Adepoju, through her lawyer, Marian Jones, alleged that Irukera had a personal interest in the matter.
He said, “In the legal professional’s ethics, when you have employment in a place of work, you are not supposed to act as a lawyer to represent it in court. He (Irukera) is the chief executive; he is not supposed to be going to court. If he has a legal department and it is authorised to go to court, it will go to court.