The Chief Medical Director of University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital, Prof Abdulwaheed Olajide Olatinwo may be committed to prison for barefaced disobedience of the order of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria made in its judgment delivered by Honourable Justice B. B. Kanyib on the 19th June, 2013 in suit number NICN/LA/359/2012 between Mrs. Abdulrahaman Yetunde Mariam and University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital.

In the Notice of Motion filed on the 21st July, 2017 at the National Industrial Court, Akure Judicial Division, the Applicant therein, Mrs. Abdulrahaman Yetunde Mariam through her counsel, Yahaya A. Alajo, Esq is praying the Court for “AN ORDER of this Honourable Court committing the 3rd Respondent/Contemnor, DR. A.W.O. OLATINWO, the Chief Medical Director (CMD) and Principal Officer of the 2nd Respondent/Contemnor to prison for being in contempt and blatant disobedience of the judgment of this Honourable Court in Suit No.: NICN/LA/359/2012 delivered on the 19th day of June, 2013 directing that the Applicant be recalled back to work and be promoted to the next rank effective from 2010.”

The Applicant who is an employee of the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital and a Principal Nursing Officer at the material time sued her employer for undue denial of promotion, query and suspension from work which she tagged as malicious, witch-hunting and vindictive. The National Industrial Court presided over by Honourable Justice B. B. Kanyib in its judgment delivered on the 19th June, 2013 ruled in favour of the Applicant by declaring that her denial of promotion, query and subsequent suspension by her employer are malicious, witch-hunting, vindictive and amount to unfair labour practice. The Court further ordered that the Applicant be recalled back to work and be promoted accordingly. The management of the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital however, appealed against the judgment of the National Industrial Court in Appeal number CA/IL/77/2015 but the appeal was dismissed by the Court of Appeal, Ilorin division in judgment delivered on the 22nd November, 2016 for lacking in merit.

It was learnt that the whole legal tussle started when the family of the Applicant, sometime in 2008, represented by her brother, Dr. Dele Abegunde, a medical doctor, instituted an action at the Federal High Court, Ilorin against the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital for negligent treatment of their father while on admission with the Teaching Hospital which later resulted to his death. The Federal High Court, Ilorin ruled in favour of the family of the Applicant and awarded damages in millions against the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital. One of the instances of negligence observed by the Federal High Court was the Death Certificate of their late father wrongly dated by the issuing doctor but collected by the Applicant on behalf of her family.

After the judgment of the Federal High Court, the Applicant was queried for collecting the wrongly dated Death Certificate without drawing the attention of the management of the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital to the error. She was thereafter denied promotion on the ground of being under disciplinary measure and she was subsequently suspended by the Chief Medical Director, Prof Abdulwaheed Olatinwo from work. Apparently, the National Industrial nullified the actions of the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital management and ordered the recall back to work of the Applicant. It is therefore, the disobedience of the Chief Medical Director to comply with this order that the Applicant approached the National Industrial Court for an order committing Prof Olatinwo to prison for contempt. No date has been fixed for the hearing of the application.

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