Chimamanda: It Was Exactly The Same Medication That Was Administered To Michael Jackson -Agbakoba

Speaking on the alleged death of Chimamanda Adichie’s kid, Olisa Agbakoba, a former president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), addressed claims of medical negligence and larger systemic problems in Nigeria’s healthcare system.

In answer to a query about what he thought may have happened in the case, given prior accusations of medical neglect against major hospitals in Lagos, Agbakoba made the remarks during an interview that aired on Monday, January 12, 2026, on Channels Television.

The issue is still in the allegation stage, therefore Agbakoba warned against jumping to conclusions in his response. The situation is still in the allegational stage, so one must exercise utmost caution, he added.

He made it clear that the public assertions and the hospital’s reaction must be taken into account, saying that the hospital in question had rejected the medical malpractice accusations.

By drawing attention to what he called systematic shortcomings within the medical profession, Agbakoba offered a broader context for the tragedy. ”

The medical profession has committed a total failure in terms of medicine, regulation, and the law,” he declared. ”

All the systems are broken, the medical profession is suffering from lack of funding, the regulatory institutions, everything,” he said, implying that several levels of the system are impacted.

The last statute governing the medical profession was passed in 1963,” he said, pointing to out-of-date legislation as a cause. It has completely become outdated. According to him, this is still having an impact on industry responsibility and regulation. ”

But in this case, if what is alleged is true, what was administered to the young baby is such a powerful sedative,” Agbakoba remarked, drawing attention to the specific accusations regarding the case. ”

That if wrongly administered, can cause cardiorespiratory failure,” he added, elaborating on the potentially fatal effects of the drug’s incorrect delivery. The official intent of the medication, in his opinion, was to calm the child down so that they could travel.

It was to stabilise the child for a long journey, he explained. “If true, because as I said, one has to be extremely careful, we’re at the stage of an allegation,” he stated, reiterating the importance of exercising caution.

Agbakoba pointed out that Chimamanda Adichie made the accusations public, and the hospital has denied any wrongdoing.

An accusation of medical malpractice has been disputed by the hospital, he added. He went on to say, “So the investigation that the government has launched will establish what’s going on,” referring to the official probe that was already begun.

He was aware of the measures done by the medical centre after the occurrence. He claims, “In fairness to them, in my long years of medical malpractice cases, the hospital is one of the very few… that has triggered an internal governance check as to what went wrong.”

They needed to have involved independent people, the family, external medical people, people from the legal profession, to give authenticity and transparency to that process,” he added, implying that the process could have been more inclusive.

Agbakoba ended by making a reference to the particular drug that was supposedly involved. What transpired, however, is straightforward, he emphasised. Someone allegedly took too much propranolol. ”

You remember the Michael Jackson case, it was exactly the same medication that was administered to Michael Jackson, but it was an overdose,” he added, drawing a link. “Respiratory and cardiac arrest issues” were the outcomes of that episode, according to him.

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