Court adjourns case till May 24
John Silas
The legal tussle between the Association of Nigerian Private Medical Practitioners (ANPMP) Lagos State Chapter and the Lagos State Health Facilities Monitoring and Accreditation Agency (HEFAMAA) appeared to be coming to an end as the state health regulatory agency made a U-turn and pleaded for peaceful resolution of the dispute.
Based on the latest development, Honourable Justice D.T. Olatokun of Ikeja Judicial Division of the High Court of Lagos on Monday, April 25, 2022, adjourned the case till May 24, 2022 for final settlement.
Recalled that ANPMP had taken the Lagos State Health regulatory agency to court over monitoring procedures leading to physical attack on a 73 years old medical doctor by the Executive Secretary of HEFAMAA, Dr. Mrs Abiola Idowu. According to ANPMP, Dr Abiola Idowu by slapping a medical doctor has violated Civil Service rules of Lagos State and should be removed. But with turn of events, the two parties have agreed that all the maters in court should be withdrawn.
According to the Counsel to ANPMP, Abimbola Akeredolu (SAN), the association and the officials of the state government have had settlement discussions and apologies were tendered. “The association and the officials of the state government have been having settlement discussions, the last settlement discussion they had was yesterday, apologies were tendered, so it was agreed that all the maters in court, a total of three of them will be withdrawn, so that was what was reported to the court this morning. Since peace has been made, there is no need pursuing the case anymore. So we told the court this morning that we are going to file the appropriate papers to withdraw the action or enter terms of settlement.”
On who bears cost of the legal battle, Akeredolu said “We are not talking about money, we are talking about issues of principles, the issues at stake are issues of principles, so like I said, apologies have been tendered and certain undertakings were given that such would not happen again. We are going to get the particulars. It is either we enter terms of settlement or we just withdraw the action, it all depends on the kind of details I get about the settlement.”
Speaking on the nature of settlement considering the colossal damage and the assault she said, “Those are the principles they are going to agree upon, when they agree we let you know what they finally agreed, but I heard that they said harassment will stop, the regulation will improve, and the regulatory powers of the regulator will be exercised with more restraint and decorum.”
On sack of the helmsperson of HEFAMAA, she said, “You know that is the sub-stratum of this case, if there has been apology and there is undertaking that such should never happen again, the important thing is that lessons are learnt that there is rule of law in Nigeria.”
The Chairman of the medical body, Dr Makinde Akinlemibola, reacting to the latest development said “I feel okay about the settlement, I am happy in the sense that two people cannot be together for so long and there won’t be any friction, but when you understand one another it becomes a lot easier to deal with one another. I think any human being or any institution, what they need is a little bit of respect, but when that is not happening, there is bound to be a lot of resistance. I am happy that we had a meeting with the government till late yesterday and then we eventually arrived at the fact that, yes, people have made mistakes, and we have decided that we are all going to allow the sleeping dog to lie, and in view of that we are in the process of reconciliation without going through the court process.”
On who bears the responsibilities of the cost of the court case Akinlemibola answered “Yes the cost has come from both sides and of course, the cost if you are talking in terms of financial cost, it is not even as grievous as the embarrassment that can come along with it, what we have agreed is the fact that, yes, there have been a lot of wrongs, and both parties have appreciated the wrongs, and because of that there will be a process in which we will now make amend such that ugly incidences like this will not happen again.
“In terms of the cost, well, if you are talking of the financial cost, I think that is very infinitesimal, it is a minor thing, what is even more important is for us to continue to have a good working relationship.
“There is no way we can do without the government, and there is no way government can do without us, so the moment we appreciate that and we understand that then things will begin to work better,” Akinlemibola maintained.
