…As other cases before NICN await judgment
• Mischievous, frivolous suits were filed to cripple association –Dr. Odionyenma, National President
By Enyeribe Ejiogu
The judgment of the Federal High Court, sitting in Kano, in respect of Suit No: FHC/KN/CS/413/2024, delivered on May 7, 2025 has brought a sense of relief to several notable elders and majority of the membership of the Association of Medical Laboratory Scientists of Nigeria, AMLSN, which has been embroiled in leadership tussle.
In a landmark judgment it delivered in Suit No: NICN/ABJ/368/2020 on October 10, 2023, the National Industrial Court of Nigeria struck down the purported election of Dr. Casmir Ifeanyi as national president, and ordered that Dr. Uche Odionyenma be immediately sworn-in being the only contestant that met the requirements and was therefore deemed elected unopposed. For some reason, the court order was not obeyed. Rather, Odionyenma alleged that Dr. Ifeanyi and his supporters have been engaged in various acts to circumvent the NICN order, by instituting lawsuits in courts in Nasarawa and Kano, and doing other things, which he (Odionyenma) deemed contemptuous of the NICN, and therefore approached the court again with a motion for the committal of Dr. Ifeanyi for contempt of court, for which appropriate charges have been served on him and the matter is pending in court.
In this interview, he speaks on the recent court victories recorded by the lawful AMLSN leadership in the lawsuits instituted against him by Dr. Ifeanyi directly and through his proxies.
How do you feel about the judgment of the Federal High Court, Kano, in respect of the suit brought against you by some members of AMLSN?
As anyone would expect, I feel happy and delighted by the judgment. It has rekindled my hope in the judiciary. The plaintiffs were misguided members of our dear profession who felt they could sway any judge without due technicalities. Well, it’s noteworthy that the same courts that issued restraining orders on me last year, which the plaintiffs and their sponsors were mounting all over the social media, have equally given resounding judgment against them, and in the same breath rebuked them for their perfidy. The implication of the judgment is that the personal assistant to the sacked president, Mr Shehu Musa and his co-travelers lied to the learned judge of the Federal High Court, Kano, to obtain the unmerited restraining order given to them last year.
Based on your reading of the court verdict, how would you characterize the lawsuit?
The lawsuit was absolutely frivolous. The plaintiffs were just mischievous. If you take time to read the judgment, you will see that all the reliefs sought by them were ridiculous given the facts of the case. They were fronting for the sacked president, Dr Casmir Ifeanyi, who thought he could fool the learned judge of the Federal High Court, Kano, by filing another suit on the same subject matter which was pending at the National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN), Abuja, through a proxy.
The case was frivolous because in the first place, the Disciplinary Committee Report of AMLSN on which they hinged their suit, and which was given to the judge or submitted in the Federal High Court as one of their exhibits, had been reviewed by the former Board of Trustees (BoT) of AMLSN and that former BoT gave a report that was made public and I was not found guilty of any misappropriation or embezzlement. It was on the basis of the BoT review that I was cleared to run for the position of national president in the 2020 elections. Mind you, what they were talking about happened in 2017. So, I was cleared to run for the position of national president in the 2020 elections.
Secondly, none of the listed plaintiffs in that suit in Kano took part in the 2020 election as contestants. So, they had no locus standi to file the lawsuit. Thirdly, they were all aware of the ongoing suit filed by their principal, Dr. Casmir Ifeanyi at the NICN on the same subject matter, but they deliberately chose to distract attention by going to the Federal High Court, Kano. In fact, their action is driven by sheer mischief, selfish interest, and what I can also refer to as stomach infrastructure.
In what way are these lawsuits hampering the pursuit of the primary goals of AMLSN against the background of the need of the professionals to contribute to the health of Nigerians?
Really, these lawsuits are hampering AMLSN. What is happening is very unfortunate. Any way you look at the situation, you can easily see that these frivolous litigations are distracting us, the real AMLSN leadership from carrying out our planned programme of activities to meet the targets we have set for the professional body of medical laboratory scientists. It is worrisome; there is no doubt about it. Whatever little we have achieved so far, we would have done far more than that if not for the distraction by these frivolous suits. And more worrisome is the crude behaviour of Dr. Ifeanyi, who drove away staff of AMLSN Secretariat and physically locked the facility since June 2024 till date. You have just one man by sheer arrogance behaves as if he is above the law. First, he used the police from Zone 7 to seal the secretariat, but when the Police High Command was enlightened on the facts and it directed the withdrawal of policemen from Zone 7, he switched to the use thugs who he refers to as vigilante.
So far, Dr. Ifeanyi has demonstrated bizarre lawlessness as he keeps boasting of his privileged contacts. Time will tell. I believe that in a short while, the long arms of the law will catch up with him. He’s been served both forms 48 and 49 for disobeying the orders of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria, Abuja, which is hearing a motion for his committal on charges for contempt of court. The matter is pending at the National Industrial Court of Nigeria.
Taking an overview of these various court cases, what has been the general impact on the membership of AMLSN? Secondly, is there a sense of desperation on the part of the members sponsoring the litigations?
Well, the impact is very obvious. The various cross-cases have made members to be very unhappy and it has affected the hard-earned reputation of the association too, because since this process started, our reputation has nosedived amid both international and local sanctions.
In 2024, the International Federation of Biomedical Laboratory Science suspended Nigeria because we were not forthcoming with one president. Also, National Union of Allied Health Professionals, where AMLSN is a member of the umbrella union, also suspended us from participating in the activities until the issue of leadership is properly sorted out. And all these negative things have caused members to lose interest and they no longer pay their dues.
So, it’s a very big issue and challenge for one to be saddled with the leadership of an association where you don’t have funds. It is a situation where one is using personal funds to run an association because of problems that have been brought on the association by very malicious and greedy individuals.
On the second part of your question, certainly as you rightly observed, there is desperation on the part of the misguided and mischievous members who are sponsoring these messy moves and litigations. The desperation is too much. Last year, Dr. Ifeanyi and a handful of the other discredited elements prodding him, held an illegal conference in Owerri, Imo State capital that flopped heavily. It was a conference that had no keynote speaker and no conference materials, but thank God, we were able to remedy that shame and embarrassment brought on AMLSN when we had the legal conference at Umuahia, Abia State capital, which was attended by no fewer than five past presidents 0f the association. Keynote speeches were given by Professor ….the Vice Chancellor of the Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, and the respected Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Right Honourable Benjamin Okezie-Kalu. The event was a huge success and the media coverage was fantastic.
But surprisingly, this year, again, in defiance of the contempt charge and driven by sheer desperation, Dr. Ifeanyi and his shameless sponsors have tried to organize another illegal public lecture in Jos, the Plateau State.
They smartly put the venue at the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), so that they can hide under the high-profile name and image of NIPSS to disobey patent court order. And the process they are embarrassing the establishment. We drew the attention of NIPSS to the illegality of the conference. The essence of all these illegal activities is just to destabilise the association and under false pretense perhaps get money for programme sponsorship from unsuspecting government agencies, corporate bodies or even individuals. We know all these tactics.
Prior to the Kano suit, there had been another suit instituted in a court in Nasarawa State. Please give a little background to this. Is there any correlation between the two cases?
Yes, they were related and the primary intention was shackle AMLSN and enable Dr. Ifeanyi and his co-travellers maintain illegal control over the bank accounts of the association and ensure that it is unable to function and operate as a professional body of medical laboratory scientists. You see, AMLSN has about eight accounts with the United Bank for Africa in Maitama, Abuja, FCT.
Now, shortly after I was sworn in as the National President, the BoT wrote and notified the bank about the change in leadership of AMLSN and directed the bank to effect changes in signatories to the accounts of the association, to reflect the new leadership. The bank used various petty reasons to delay effecting the changes demanded for about one or two months. While the delay tactics was ongoing, Dr. Ifeanyi used the time shop for and to secure an injunction from a Nasarawa State Magistrate Court, NOT ABUJA, to stop the bank from effecting the changes pending the termination of the suit filed by Dr. Ifeanyi.
So, AMLSN then filed processes at the Magistrate Court, made appearances, and got judgment in our favour, as the Magistrate Court vacated her order in December 2024 and ordered the bank to proceed with the change in signatories. Surprisingly, the bank refused, by hiding under a restraining order from the Federal High Court, Kano, given months earlier, but which was not targeted at the bank, unlike the order from the Magistrate Court that strictly talked about bank accounts. The order from the Federal High Court was obtained by his proxies under a false pretense, but once the Judge was properly informed by our lawyer, he promptly lifted the restraining order.
We understand that there are still one or two matters still pending at the NICN concerning AMLSN. What is the crux of the cases and what is the status report on the cases?
Actually, there are still some cases in court. At present, as we speak, the matters pending at the NICN concern the committal for contempt of court charge against Dr Ifeanyi as well as order for interlocutory injunction against him, following the withdrawal of the suit he filed before the NICN challenging his removal as the national president. These are the two cases that are left and we are awaiting judgment on them. Now, the crux of the cases is the insistent disregard of valid court orders on maintaining status quo pending the determination of the suit by Dr. Ifeanyi, and issuance of interlocutory injunction to stop him from further parading himself as national president and an order to compel him to reopen the AMLSN national secretariat in Abuja he locked since last year.
Following my swearing in on June 25, 2024, in compliance with the judgment of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria, Dr. Ifeanyi filed a suit on July 4, 2024, to challenge his removal. The presiding Judge ordered parties to maintain status quo pending the determination of the suit. But regrettably, Dr. Ifeanyi disregarded the valid order of the court, and kept parading himself as the national president
The Judge cited Exhibit 5, which is the letter the BoT wrote to Dr Ifeanyi, to stop functioning as National President of the association. He also cited Exhibit 6, which is the letter that the BoT wrote to me inviting me to be sworn in as the National President. The Judge ruled that this status quo should remain. But the lawlessness in Dr. Ifeanyi could not hold him back and continue to parade himself as the National President. This was what informed his being served forms 48 and 49, and a motion for committal to prison charges.
During the last sitting on March 6, 2025, at NICM, Dr Ifeanyi’s lawyer surprisingly withdrew the suit at NICN stating lack of jurisdiction by NICN and the reconciliatory committee set up by the Minister of State for Health as reasons. But he also was just trying to be funny because the issue of jurisdiction was the first thing that the court dealt with when this matter started and judgment was given.
AMLSN’s lawyer did not raise objection to his request for withdrawal, but he frowned at the uncouth habit Dr Ifeanyi’s in deliberately delaying service until a day to the court sitting, just to prolong hearing of the matter.
He added that the Honorable Minister of State for Health gave the Medical Laboratory Science Council of Nigeria Registrar, Professor Tosa Erabo, now late, a directive to reconcile parties within three months. The NICM Registrar invited and met with both parties. And before he could conclude the matter, the same minister that asked him to intervene, jettisoned the emergency committee and set up a brand new committee.
Regrettably, the new committee set up was hugely lopsided in favor of Dr. Ifeanyi because the committee was made up of 12 members, out of which eight were people with vested interests and key supporters of Dr. Ifeanyi’s as members. These were people he submitted their names as board appointees before he was sacked from office. And when he was sacked from office, and I was sworn in a fresh list of appointees was prepared, which was submitted to the Federal Ministry of Health, withdrawing that which the former president had submitted. And what did they do? They had to go to that list to nominate all the members that were submitted in that list as members of the Committee for Reconciliation. What do you expect from such people with vested interests? Is it for them to sit down and pass a verdict that will be against them or against their personal interests? And I’m sure the minister is not aware of this, because somebody, somebody nominated this member, somebody advised the minister, and it is that person that is the problem, you know, of the association or that is trying to ensure that peace is not arrived at in the reconciliation.
And the lawyer told the court that owing to this, confidence was lost in the committee. And that these facts were communicated to the Honorable Minister. So, well, at the end of the last submission, the judge ruled and struck out suit number NAICN ABJ 189-2024, filed by Dr. Ifeanyi to challenge his removal from office, which he withdrew through his lawyer. The Judge struck it out on March 6th, 2025. So, what that implies is that, legally, he is no longer challenging his removal, having withdrawn his suit.
The second matter is the case instituted by the AMLSN BoT and myself, against Dr. Ifeanyi seeking his committal for contempt of court by continuing to parade himself as national president of AMLSN.
Our desire in the matter is that expeditious judgment would be given in the two cases remaining, because Dr. Ifeanyi defied the court again just recently by organizing an illegal conference in Jos, Plateau State, held at the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies.