SOKAPU drags Umahi to court over nurse’s death, demands autopsy, N20bn compensation

THE Incorporated Trustees of the Southern Kaduna Peoples’ United Associations (SOKAPU) has instituted a suit against the Minister of Works, Mr David Umahi, over the death of Mary Habila, a nurse who was attached to his medical team.

Habila died on June 27 while serving at the minister’s residence. Since the incident, her death has attracted widespread public attention, with many Nigerians demanding a comprehensive investigation into the circumstances surrounding it.

Although members of the deceased’s family reportedly opposed an autopsy, the Ebonyi State Police Command said it would proceed with the examination. Umahi had also written to the state’s commissioner of police requesting that an autopsy be carried out.

The suit, filed before the Federal High Court in Kaduna, also lists Habila Tanko Wisdom, the deceased’s father, the attorney-general of Ebonyi State and the state commissioner of police as respondents.

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SOKAPU is seeking N20 billion in damages from the minister, alleging that Mary’s death resulted from a breach of the duty of care owed to her while she was under his custody.

The association is asking the court to declare that the nurse died under unexplained, controversial and unnatural circumstances.

It further argued that the alleged hurried transfer of her body to a mortuary without first making a formal report to the Nigeria Police Force violated the constitutional right to life guaranteed under Section 33 of the 1999 Constitution, as well as Article 4 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.

According to the applicant, the failure to immediately conduct an independent and transparent autopsy, alongside a prompt police investigation into the circumstances of her death, amounts to a continuing breach of her fundamental right to life.

Among the reliefs sought, SOKAPU wants the court to direct the attorney-general of Ebonyi State and the commissioner of police to facilitate an independent, open and impartial autopsy by a panel of pathologists and medical experts drawn from Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, Zaria, the University College Hospital, Ibadan, and the National Hospital, Abuja.