Retract claim or face legal action – NMA Enugu State threatens Prof Bala Audu, Dr Ben Egbo
The Nigerian Medical Association Enugu has dismissed the claim by the national body of the association that its executive officers, led by Dr Sunday Okafor as the chairman and Dr Chima Edoga as the secretary, among other state officers, were not fully elected.
The NMA Enugu chapter disclosed this in a rejoinder and a pre-action notice to the national body of the association.
This comes as the national body of the NMA, in a publication signed by its president, Prof. Bala Audu, and secretary, Dr. Benjamin Egbo, dissociated itself from the NMA Enugu chapter led by Dr. Okafor and Edoga.
Reacting, NMA Enugu, after an Emergency State Officers’ Council (SOC) held on Sunday 26th October, 2025, resolved that the claims by the national body of the association were false and misleading.
It stressed that the claim by the NMA national body is not only laughable but also grossly ridiculous to the medical profession.
Consequently, the chapter has given Prof. Audu and Dr Egbo three (3) days to fully retract their defamatory release or face the legal consequences.
According to the state chapter of NMA, the national body is acting in contempt of an existing court injunction with the suit No: E/671cp/2025 (Enugu State High Court) for their failed effort to truncate the NMA Enugu State election for personal gains.
“The attention of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) Enugu State has been drawn to a libellous newspaper publication purportedly signed by certain individuals: Prof. Bala Audu and Dr Benjamin Egbo, President and Secretary General of the Nigerian Medical Association, respectively.
“Consequently, an Emergency State Officers’ Council (SOC) meeting of NMA Enugu State was convened and held on Sunday, 26th October, 2025, with a resolution, among others, to issue this rejoinder and pre-action notice.
“For reiteration, clarity and record straightening, the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) Enugu State Branch, in its Annual General Meeting (AGM) of 2024, whose Opening Ceremony was chaired by Sir Dr Martin Chukwunwike. Therein, the Prof. Oge Amadi-led Electoral Committee (EC) conducted the NMA Enugu State election that produced Rtn. Dr Sunday Okafor as the Chairman and Dr Chima Edoga as the Secretary, among other State Officers. The returning officer as appointed by the AGM was Prof. Emmanuel Obikili.
“It is very saddening that the individuals whose pictures appear above, Prof. Bala Audu and Dr. Benjamin Egbo, being in full knowledge of the foregoing and by their libellous publication, chose to insult the sensibilities of medical doctors the world over and the general public, thereby bringing the medical profession to ridicule.
“That the duo, who, among others, are in contempt of court (Suit No: E/671cp/2025; Enugu State High Court)* for their failed effort to truncate the NMA Enugu State election for personal gains, should continue to denigrate the courts of our land by making a defamatory release in Weekend Trust and Sunday Tribune of 25th and 26th October 2025 is worrisome.
“While the contempt proceedings have been commenced on Dr Benjamin Egbo and others, Prof Bala Audu has been making every effort to evade service. They took a step further by defying a valid High Court order of 20th October 2025 by embarking on a failed bid to subjugate medical doctors in Enugu State.
“The duo, with some members of the National Officers’ Committee (NOC), have continued to aid and urge on a NEC suspended member, Dr Chibuzo Ndiokwelu and Dr Celestine Ugwoke with others at large to insult their colleagues, legends and icons of the medical profession in Enugu State.
“It is based on the foregoing that the hypocritical statement of maintaining ethical standards in their defamatory and libellous release is not only laughable but also grossly ridiculous.
“Regrettably, they are on a political and administrative crossroads, and like a man with the proverbial new hammer, to whom any and everything is a nail, they will commit anything lawful or not to get their way out of their Waterloo.
“Let it be known that it is out of our sheer benevolence and love for the Association and the medical profession that the duo of Prof. Bala Audu and Dr. Benjamin Egbo are given three (3) days to fully retract their defamatory release or face the legal consequences.
“We urge our dear members and the general public to ignore this provocative release and focus on the forthcoming 2025 Physicians’ Week and Regional Health Summit. We should equally know that these Prof. Bala Audu and Dr Benjamin Egbo, by their actions and collaboration with rascals and renegades, represent a big disgrace to the medical community world over.
“While appreciating their deserving frustration that medical doctors in Enugu have since moved on with their personal and collective efforts as a state branch, while he confiscates their annual practising licence fee to renegades despite our previous cautionary notice and official communications, Prof. Bala Audu and Dr. Benjamin Egbo are expected to know where to draw the line between corporate communication and defamation,” the NMA Enugu chapter stated.