Court to Hear Doctor’s Appeal Against Conviction Over Teen’s Crippled Leg

Wale Igbintade

The Court of Appeal, Lagos Division, has fixed March 10, 2026, to hear the appeal filed by the Medical Director of Excel Medical Centre, Dr. Ferdinand Ejike Orji, challenging his conviction and one-year jail sentence by the Lagos State High Court.

The appellate court will also hear a cross-appeal by the Lagos State Government seeking to overturn the portion of the judgment that discharged and acquitted Dr. Orji on Count 1 of the six-count amended charge. 

The state wants him convicted and sentenced on that count as well.

A three-member panel of the appellate court, presided over by Justice Yargata Nimpar, adjourned the case to allow the state government (respondent) to file its response to the motion by the appellant. 

Other members of the panel are Justices Danlami Zama Senchi and Abdulazeez Muhammed Anka.

During the proceedings, counsel to the appellant, Chief Bolaji Ayorinde (SAN), and counsel to the respondent, Dr. Babajide Martins, Director of Public Prosecutions for Lagos State, regularised their court processes.

It would be recalled that Justice Adedayo Akintoye of the Lagos High Court, sitting at Tafawa Balewa Square, had on January 20, 2023, convicted Dr. Orji on four of the six counts filed against him and sentenced him to one-year imprisonment on each count, to run concurrently.

The charges arose from the doctor’s treatment of a 16-year-old boy, a promising basketball player who had returned to Nigeria for holidays. 

The boy sustained a leg fracture and was taken to Excel Medical Centre, Dolphin Estate, Ikoyi, where Dr. Orji, who is not an orthopaedic expert, applied a Plaster of Paris (POP) cast.

The prosecution alleged that the doctor’s negligence led to severe complications that permanently damaged the boy’s leg, effectively ending his dream of pursuing a basketball career in the United States.

Justice Akintoye found the doctor guilty on Counts 2, 3, 4, and 6, but discharged and acquitted him on Counts 1 and 5. In her judgment, the judge held that the prosecution proved the essential elements of the offences beyond reasonable doubt and that Dr. Orji’s conduct fell far below the standard expected of a medical practitioner.

“It is my opinion that the defendant committed a breach of duty as a medical practitioner when he wilfully refused to remove the POP cast on the patient’s left leg despite complaints of severe pain, which resulted in compartment syndrome,” Justice Akintoye stated.

The court found that the cast was applied without an X-ray, without the consent of the patient’s mother, and by unqualified personnel. 

It held that the patient was under Orji’s medical care and that his actions endangered the boy’s life.

The doctor was subsequently sentenced to one-year imprisonment on each of the four counts, to run concurrently.

Dissatisfied with the judgment, Orji filed a notice of appeal, arguing that the prosecution failed to prove criminal intent—an essential element of the alleged offences. 

He maintained that since the court found no intent on Count 1, the same reasoning should have applied to the other counts. 

He urged the appellate court to set aside his conviction and quash the trial court’s judgment.

The Lagos State Government, however, is urging the appellate court to dismiss the appeal, insisting that the evidence before the trial court proved the offences beyond reasonable doubt. 

Martins contended that the doctor’s conduct was negligent and reckless, falling short of the expected professional standard.