The trial of the famous plastic surgeon, Anuoluwapo Adepoju, whose services allegedly resulted in the death of her patient, Nneka Onwuzuligbo, proceeded on Friday before the Federal High Court in Lagos.
The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, which is suing the surgeon, called its first witness and tendered a series of documents which the court had accepted in testimony against the surgeon.
The FCCPC accused Ms. Adepoju of blocking the investigation of the customer’s complaints against her, allegedly ignoring the summons of the agency and failing to produce the necessary documents.
The prosecution counsel for the FCCPC, Babatunde Irukera, told Justice Mohammed Liman that it was a criminal offense for an industrial player to escape a summons to a court, adding that the crime entails either a period of imprisonment or a fine or both.
Mr Irukera said that the suspected offenses committed by Mrs Adepoju contravened sections 33(3)(a) and 113(4)(a) of the 2018 FCCPC Act and that she was liable, among others, to be prosecuted pursuant to sections 33(3) and 113(1) of the same Act.
The first witness to the trial, Susie Onwuka, an official of the FCCPC, said that the Commission received a series of complaints from Ms Adepoju ‘s clients between March and April of this year, and that attempts to investigate the allegations were allegedly thwarted by the surgeon.
Ms Onwuka said that the surgeon did not appear before the commission following a summons given and served on her, as well as a notice of investigation sent to her office in Lekki.
Among other documents, Justice Liman acknowledged the warrant, the notice of investigation and the photographs taken by the FCCPC while pasting the notice on the wall.
The judge adjourned until 14 October 2020 for cross-examination of the witness by defence lawyer, Marian Jones.
In the six-paragraph affidavit of the completion of the investigation annexed to the indictment folder, the Commission claimed that it had received complaints against Ms Adepoju from one Marlene Oluwakemi, Taiwo Temilade and Vivian Onwuzuligbo that the surgeon’s services had been rendered “are unsafe for consumers,” and that she made “false, misleading and deceptive representation in relation to 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.”
FCCPC sealed Ms Adepoju’s popular plastic surgery hospital, Med Contour, on “suspicion of illegal activities” in April.
The FCCPC said it has commenced an investigation into a failed plastic surgery performed by the doctor.
The agency said the arrest was in furtherance of “an open investigation, on reasonable suspicion of illegal activities in an abundance of caution and consumer safety pending further inquiry”.
The surgeon was recently called out by a Twitter user, Omotola Taiwo (with the user name, Omohtee), for allegedly performing a fake surgical procedure on her.
Omohtee, who disclosed that she wanted a ‘normal’ waist, accused the plastic surgeon of blocking her on social media platforms after the alleged botched surgery.
She urged Nigerians to be wary of Med Contour clinic.
“So apparently my offence is that her waist is too tiny,” the defendant said in defence on Instagram.
“At the expense of another person’s name and profession some people just want their posts to trend…this is really sad. I leave this lady to God..let God’s will be done.”
