A Lagos State High Court in Osborne Foreshore, Ikoyi, on Monday struck out an application by Eurapharma Care Services Nigeria Limited, operators of Euracare Multi-Specialist Hospital, seeking to halt the coroner’s inquest into the death of Nkanu Esege, the young son of acclaimed Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.
Justice Aishat Opesanwo dismissed the hospital’s claims that the cremation of the child’s body stripped the coroner of jurisdiction and that the planned order for receiving evidence breached its right to a fair hearing.
The judge ruled that the inquest is mandated by law and that the absence of the body does not, by itself, prevent the inquiry from going ahead.
Nkanu died on 7 January 2026 after medical procedures at the hospital, prompting an official investigation into the circumstances of his death.
In its application, Euracare argued that without a body available for post-mortem examination, the coroner lacked authority to proceed.
It also objected to the coroner’s plan to take statements and evidence first from medical staff and others connected to the facilities where the child was treated.
Justice Opesanwo held that the decision to hold the inquest stems from a clear statutory duty under Section 15 of the Lagos State Coroners System Law 2007, not from discretion.
Once a death falls into any of the nine specified categories and occurs within the coroner’s district, an inquest must be conducted.
The hospital had failed to disprove those triggering conditions.The judge noted that the law does not require the body to remain in the district on the day of the inquest.
She rejected the suggestion that cremation would render the proceedings speculative, describing the hospital’s worries about the eventual outcome as premature because the inquest has not yet formally begun.
A coroner’s inquest, she explained, is a fact-finding exercise aimed at establishing who died, how, when and where. It is not a trial; no one is on trial.
The process is inquisitorial rather than adversarial and is not designed to assign blame or impose penalties.On the sequence of evidence, Justice Opesanwo said the coroner has discretion to decide the order in which statements and testimony are received.
Disagreement with that order does not amount to a breach of fair hearing. Rules of evidence and procedure that apply in ordinary civil cases do not operate in the same way in a coroner’s inquiry.
The judge concluded that the hospital’s application rested on a misunderstanding of the nature and purpose of a coroner’s inquest.
She upheld the preliminary objections raised by the respondents and struck out the substantive application, clearing the way for the inquest to continue.
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