At least 18 Nigerian-trained medical professionals faced proceedings before the UK Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service, MPTS, between July 2025 and July 2026 over various misconduct cases, including fraud, theft, sexual offences, drug possession and unsafe prescribing.
A review of tribunal records showed that 10 of the 18 doctors were suspended, representing 55.6 per cent of the cases reviewed, while at least three doctors, or 16.7 per cent, were struck off the UK Medical Register. One doctor received a warning, while applications by two others to be restored to the medical register were rejected.
The figures contain a discrepancy in the source material, which initially states that at least 16 Nigerian doctors were suspended or struck off. However, the detailed breakdown records 10 suspensions and at least three erasures. The figures in this report therefore follow the specific outcomes contained in the detailed tribunal review.
The sanctions were imposed by the MPTS, the adjudicatory body responsible for determining fitness-to-practice cases referred to it by the General Medical Council, GMC.
Among those struck off the medical register was Olubunmi Adeagbo-Sheikh, who was erased in September 2025 following a criminal conviction for benefit fraud.
Tribunal records showed that Adeagbo-Sheikh fraudulently obtained about £11,000 in Universal Credit between September 2018 and September 2019 after submitting a false tenancy agreement and claiming to pay £900 monthly rent.
Police later recovered WhatsApp conversations relating to the scheme, a forged tenancy agreement and a fake CV from his device.
Adeagbo-Sheikh pleaded guilty and received a 12-month Community Order, including 100 hours of unpaid work. The tribunal also found that he failed to notify the GMC of his conviction for seven weeks.
Although he repaid the money and completed his community service, the tribunal concluded that he had not demonstrated sufficient insight into his conduct. It also raised concerns that substantial portions of reports and testimonials he submitted as evidence of remediation appeared to have been generated using artificial intelligence.
The tribunal ultimately found that his conduct amounted to premeditated and persistent dishonesty that was incompatible with continued registration and ordered his removal from the UK Medical Register.
Another doctor erased from the register was Aloaye Foy-Yamah, a University of Benin graduate who had practiced as a gynaecologist in England for more than 14 years.
The tribunal found, on the civil standard applicable to its proceedings, that Foy-Yamah raped a woman who had been staying at his residence in November 2018.
Lancashire Police had previously investigated the allegation without bringing criminal charges. However, a subsequent professional disciplinary proceeding found the allegation proved on the balance of probabilities.
An earlier tribunal had imposed a 12-month suspension, but the GMC appealed the decision. In May 2026, a new tribunal concluded that Foy-Yamah posed a risk to women and ordered that he be struck off the medical register.
Joseph Onwude, another Nigerian gynaecologist trained at the University of Ibadan, was also erased from the register following findings involving dishonesty, unauthorized medical practice and a criminal conviction.
Also Read:Â Doctors planning medical hardship for Nigerians
The GMC withdrew his license in 2021 after he failed to submit mandatory returns. Tribunal records showed, however, that he continued operating a private medical practice.
Between March and April 2022, Onwude issued private prescriptions to patients and surgically inserted a hormone replacement therapy implant in another patient despite no longer holding a license to practice.
He was also found to have continued practicing and issued another private prescription after an interim suspension had been imposed on his registration.
Onwude was convicted by Suffolk Magistrates’ Court in March 2024. His subsequent appeal to Ipswich Crown Court was dismissed, and he was ordered to pay £1,200 in compensation to a patient and a £180 fine.
The MPTS later found that his fitness to practice was impaired and erased his name from the medical register in September 2025. Among those suspended was Sandra Ndirika, a urology trainee at New Cross Hospital in Wolverhampton.
The tribunal found that Ndirika stole £30 from a patient, cloned the patient’s bank card and used it to make online purchases. In a separate incident, she was found to have stolen a colleague’s purse from a staff room and used the bank card inside it to order food online.
Ndirika was convicted at Wolverhampton Magistrates’ Court and sentenced to about four months in prison in December 2023. The tribunal subsequently suspended her for 18 months and ordered her to pay £425 in compensation to the victims.
Ifeanyi Ntomchukwu, a senior registrar at Royal Derby Maternity Hospital, received a two-month suspension over reckless driving and deliberate breaches of motoring laws.
Between July and September 2024, police caught Ntomchukwu driving at speeds exceeding 100 miles per hour despite holding only a provisional driving license and driving without supervision.
He was convicted of eight motoring offences and fined £4,307. The tribunal also found that he waited almost four months before notifying the GMC of his conviction, concluding that his conduct had seriously undermined public confidence in the medical profession.
Tijjani Shehu, a doctor at King’s Mill Hospital in England, was suspended for 12 months over failures in the assessment and treatment of a seriously ill patient.
The tribunal heard that Shehu was treating a patient suffering from a severe bacterial infection that had progressed to sepsis. It found that he failed to properly consider the patient’s other symptoms, medical history and an alternative diagnosis.
The patient later died, although the tribunal did not find that Shehu caused or contributed to the death. It concluded that his clinical failures delayed the correct diagnosis and treatment.
Anthony Shonde, a gastroenterologist at Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in Nottingham, was suspended for nine months in August 2025 over excessive prescribing of potent opioid medication.
Tribunal records showed that between February and April 2020, Shonde issued more than 1,000 prescriptions while working for Letter Box Meds and frequently failed to obtain adequate clinical histories before prescribing potent opiates.
Another Nigerian doctor, Chikaodinaka Okolo, a graduate of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, was suspended in March 2026 following findings involving possession of a controlled drug and improper prescribing practices.
The tribunal found that Okolo self-prescribed medicines in 2016, issued prescriptions in the names of former patients and people who had never attended his unit, and used the names of fictitious doctors. Records also showed that he received a police caution in April 2018 for possession of a Class A drug.
Five other Nigerians identified in the tribunal review as having been suspended were Charles Anigala, Moboladale Ojutiku, Olusola Sanusi, John Akumabor and Anthony Odume. However, the supplied review did not provide details of their individual offences to the same extent as the other cases.
Ufunwen Osayi avoided suspension or erasure and was instead issued a warning over inaccurate autopsy results.
The tribunal concluded that Osayi’s mistakes resulted from clinical misjudgment and inadequate attention to templates rather than deliberate dishonesty, concealment or bad faith.
Meanwhile, the tribunal rejected applications by Maduka Ogwueleka and Samuel Olatigbe to be restored to the medical register after they had previously been struck off.
The MPTS said it was not satisfied that either doctor had demonstrated the level of fitness to practice required for restoration.
Doctors practicing in the UK Medical are required to register with the GMC and comply with its professional standards. Alleged breaches can trigger a fitness-to-practice investigation, after which GMC case examiners may resolve the matter or refer it to the MPTS for a formal hearing.
The MPTS conducted at least 238 new hearings in 2025, compared with 185 in 2024. About 260 hearings were identified between July 2025 and July 2026, with most involving doctors of nationalities other than Nigerian.
The cases come as the UK remains one of the major destinations for Nigerian medical professionals. More than 5,600 doctors have moved from Nigeria to the UK over the past decade, while Nigerians were identified among the five largest employee nationality groups in the NHS in 2024.
The review also highlighted differences in disciplinary transparency between Nigeria and the UK. While the MPTS routinely publishes details of hearings and decisions, the review said comparable comprehensive disciplinary records were not readily accessible through the website of Nigeria’s Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria.
Overall, the cases reviewed involved a wide range of professional and criminal misconduct, including sexual misconduct, fraud, theft, dishonesty, drug possession, reckless driving, unsafe prescribing, unauthorized medical practice and failures to comply with regulatory requirements.
BarristerNG.com
