The Nigerian Medical Association plunged into deeper crisis Thursday as delegates at an Emergency Delegates Meeting in Abuja suspended the National Officers' Committee and reinstated six electoral candidates previously disqualified for the 2026 elections. The meeting, held at Park View Hotel, Wuse, was attended by representatives from 22 state branches and the Federal Capital Territory, who cited constitutional breaches and administrative overreach by the NOC. In a communiqué signed by Caretaker Committee Chairman Dr. Philips Uche Ekpe and Secretary Dr. Sabo Emmanuel, the delegates declared the disqualifications invalid, stating they were based on "administrative requirements not expressly provided for in the Constitution." A secret ballot led to the reversal of all disqualifications, allowing all duly nominated candidates to contest at the upcoming Annual Delegates Meeting in Kano.
The delegates passed a vote of no confidence in the NOC, suspending its leadership by 53 votes to two, and referred its members to the National Disciplinary Committee for investigation. The absence of NOC members at the meeting, despite confirmed quorum and prior notice, was described as a threat to institutional stability. To ensure continuity, a three-member caretaker committee was formed, comprising Dr. Ekpe Philips Uche as chairman, Dr. Sabo Emmanuel as secretary, and Dr. Olawale Oke as member. The committee is tasked with overseeing preparations for the Kano ADM and operating strictly within constitutional guidelines. The Committee of Past Presidents had earlier intervened, urging the NOC to allow disqualified candidates a one-week window to present proof of practising fee payments based on MDCN records. In a statement issued after its April 17 meeting, the CPP, led by Prof. Dominic Osaghae and Prof. Wole Atoyebi, maintained that requirements like multiple passport photographs and CV copies are not constitutional and should not disqualify candidates. It warned that unresolved disputes could deepen divisions and erode confidence in the electoral process.
The NOC suspended by its own members for enforcing rules not in the NMA constitution now faces disciplinary action for applying standards the association's past leaders admit have no constitutional basis. Dr. Philips Uche Ekpe and Dr. Sabo Emmanuel, now leading the caretaker committee, were part of a process that invalidated disqualifications made under those same unauthorised rules. If the criteria were never constitutional, then the candidates were wrongly barred in the first place, and the NOC's actions were not misconduct but misapplication of informal guidelines. The crisis leaves rank-and-file NMA members in limbo, unsure whether elections will be decided by the constitution or shifting internal interpretations.
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