The Lagos State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Lawal Pedro (SAN), alongside the Chief Coroner and the presiding Coroner handling the inquiry into the death of Master Nkanu Adichie-Esege, have asked the Lagos State High Court to dismiss a suit seeking to halt the ongoing coroner’s inquest.
The application is a preliminary objection dated June 5, 2026, filed in response to a judicial review brought by Eurapharma Care Services Nigeria Limited, the Victoria Island hospital where the 21-month-old son of author Chimamanda Adichie and Dr. Ivara Esege reportedly died on January 7, 2026.
The hospital had earlier obtained an interim order from Justice Aishat Opesanwo of the Lagos High Court, Osborne, Ikoyi, temporarily stopping the inquest pending determination of its substantive application.
Eurapharma is seeking orders of certiorari and prohibition to quash the decisions of the Coroner’s Court and prevent further proceedings into the matter.
However, the Attorney-General, Chief Coroner and presiding Coroner argued that the suit was incompetent, premature and amounts to an abuse of court process.
In their joint submission, the respondents maintained that judicial review is only applicable where a lower tribunal acts without jurisdiction or exceeds its statutory authority.
They argued that under the Lagos State Coroners System Law, the Coroner has exclusive jurisdiction to investigate suspicious deaths and is therefore acting within the confines of the law in conducting the inquest.
The respondents further rejected claims by the hospital that the alleged cremation of the child’s remains stripped the Coroner of jurisdiction, noting that the law permits an inquest even where a body is unavailable or destroyed.
They also stated that no formal evidence had yet been presented before the Coroner regarding the alleged cremation or absence of an autopsy report, describing the hospital’s claims as speculative.
On the issue of procedure, the respondents dismissed allegations that the Coroner’s directive requiring the hospital to present its witnesses first amounted to a breach of fair hearing, insisting that no denial of opportunity had occurred.
They maintained that the hospital remains fully entitled to present evidence and cross-examine witnesses during the proceedings.
The respondents urged the court to strike out the suit, describing it as an attempt to bypass the statutory process for investigating suspicious deaths.
Justice Opesanwo has adjourned the matter to September 28, 2026, for hearing of all preliminary objections in the case.
