By our staff reporter
The Kuje Correctional Facility officials have submitted the medical report of Mr. Obiajulu Uja, who opposed President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s May 29 inauguration, to the Zuba Magistrate Court.
The report, signed by the Chief Medical Officer of Kuje Prison, suggests that Uja suffers from a mental disorder.
During the previous session of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Magistrate Court, Judge Magistrate Abdulazeez Ismail Muhammad summoned the Controller General of the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) and the Head and Chief Medical Officer of the Kuje Correctional Centre. They were summoned for defying the court’s order to provide a written opinion on Uja’s mental state, as requested by the Chief Medical Officer of Kuje Prison.
Magistrate Ismail Muhammad had ruled on April 20, 2023, after reviewing a medical report by Dr. Olusegun Shoyombo, a Consultant Psychiatrist at the National Hospital Abuja. The report assessed the mental health of the OBIdient supporter.
The ruling stated, “… Accordingly, it is hereby ordered that the defendant be remanded at Kuje Correctional facility for one month for medical observation. The medical personnel shall provide the defendant with the necessary medical treatment, funded by the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“The medical officer shall provide the court with a written opinion on the defendant’s mental state during the remand period, prior to its expiration.”
At the hearing of the case involving the anti-Tinubu protester, officials from Kuje Correctional Facility presented their medical opinion, which indicates that the defendant is mentally unstable.
A lawyer present at the Zuba Magistrate Court stated, “In the interest of justice, the court served the parties with the medical opinion and invited all parties, as well as a senior lawyer who was not directly involved in the case but was present in court for another matter, to present their perspectives, considering the provisions of sections 278 to 292 of the ACJA 2015 and the relevant laws governing the trial of individuals with mental illnesses.
“In the interest of justice, the hearing was adjourned until June 15, 2023, for further proceedings.”
It should be noted that in early April, Mr. Uja was removed from a Lagos-Abuja flight after initiating a lone protest, demanding that President-Elect Bola Tinubu not be inaugurated as president on May 29.
