At least 18 Nigerian-trained or Nigerian medical professionals came before the United Kingdom’s Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service between July 2025 and July 2026 over allegations and findings ranging from rape, fraud and theft to illegal drug possession, reckless driving, unsafe prescribing and practising medicine without a valid licence.
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A review of tribunal records showed that 10 of the 18 doctors 55.6 per cent were suspended, while at least three, representing 16.7 per cent, were struck off the UK Medical Register. One doctor, or 5.6 per cent, received a warning, while two others, representing 11.1 per cent, had applications to be restored to the register rejected.
The source material contains a numerical inconsistency: its opening states that at least 16 Nigerians were suspended or struck off, while its detailed breakdown expressly records 10 suspensions and at least three erasures. The percentages below therefore rely on the specific outcome figures stated in the tribunal review rather than the broader opening description.
The sanctions were imposed by the UK Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS), the adjudicatory body that determines fitness-to-practise cases referred to it by the General Medical Council (GMC).
Outcome Breakdown
| Outcome | Number | Percentage Of 18 |
|---|---|---|
| Suspended | 10 | 55.6% |
| Struck off / erased | At least 3 | 16.7% |
| Warning | 1 | 5.6% |
| Restoration applications refused | 2 | 11.1% |
| Other/not fully accounted for in stated breakdown | 2 | 11.1% |
Among those struck off was Olubunmi Adeagbo-Sheikh, who was removed from the medical register in September 2025 following a criminal conviction for benefit fraud.
According to tribunal records, Adeagbo-Sheikh fraudulently obtained about £11,000 in Universal Credit between September 2018 and September 2019 after submitting a fake tenancy agreement and claiming £900 monthly rent. Police later recovered WhatsApp conversations relating to the scheme, a forged tenancy agreement and a fake CV from his device. He pleaded guilty and received a 12-month Community Order with 100 hours of unpaid work.
The tribunal also found that he failed to notify the GMC of his conviction for seven weeks and described the benefit claim as “fraud from start to finish.”
Although he had repaid the money and completed his community service, the tribunal found 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 with artificial intelligence.
The tribunal ultimately concluded that his “premeditated and persistent dishonesty” 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 practised 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. Although Lancashire Police had earlier investigated the matter without bringing criminal charges, a later professional disciplinary process found the allegation proved on the balance of probabilities.
An earlier tribunal had imposed a 12-month suspension, but the GMC appealed. In May 2026, a new tribunal concluded that Foy-Yamah posed a risk to women and ordered that his name be struck off the medical register.
Joseph Onwude, another Nigerian gynaecologist trained at the University of Ibadan, was also removed from the register following findings relating to persistent dishonesty, unauthorised medical practice and a criminal conviction.
The GMC withdrew his licence in 2021 after he failed to submit mandatory returns, but tribunal records showed that he continued operating a private practice.
In March and April 2022, he issued private prescriptions to patients and surgically inserted an HRT implant in another patient despite no longer holding a licence.
Even after an interim suspension was imposed on his registration, he allegedly continued practising and issued another private prescription.
A Suffolk Magistrates’ Court convicted him in March 2024. His subsequent appeal to Ipswich Crown Court was dismissed, and he was ordered to pay £1,200 compensation to a patient and a £180 fine.
The MPTS subsequently found his fitness to practise impaired and erased his name from the register in September 2025.
Among the doctors suspended was Sandra Ndirika, a urology trainee at New Cross Hospital in Wolverhampton.
The tribunal found that she stole £30 from a patient, cloned the patient’s bank card and used it for 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 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 compensation to the victims.
Another Nigerian doctor, Ifeanyi Ntomchukwu, who worked as a Senior Registrar at Royal Derby Maternity Hospital, received a two-month suspension for reckless driving and deliberate breaches of driving laws.
Between July and September 2024, police caught him driving at speeds exceeding 100 miles per hour despite holding only a provisional driving licence and driving unsupervised.
He was convicted of eight motoring offences and fined £4,307.
The tribunal also found that he waited nearly four months before informing the GMC of his conviction and ruled 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 assessing a seriously ill patient.
The tribunal heard that while treating a patient suffering from a severe bacterial infection that had developed into sepsis, Shehu failed to properly consider other symptoms, the patient’s medical history and an alternative diagnosis.
The patient later died.
Crucially, the tribunal did not find that Shehu caused or contributed to the patient’s death. Its finding was that his 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, while working for Letter Box Meds, Shonde issued more than 1,000 excessive prescriptions and frequently failed to obtain adequate clinical histories before prescribing potent opiates.
Another Nigerian doctor, Chikaodinaka Okolo, a University of Nigeria, Nsukka graduate, was suspended in March 2026 following findings involving the possession of hard drugs and improper prescribing practices.
The tribunal found that in 2016 he had self-prescribed medicines, 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 as having been suspended were Charles Anigala, Moboladale Ojutiku, Olusola Sanusi, John Akumabor and Anthony Odume, although the supplied tribunal review did not set out their individual offences in the same level of detail.
One doctor, 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.
The tribunal also 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 they had demonstrated the fitness to practise required for restoration.
All doctors practising in the United Kingdom are required to register with the GMC and comply with its professional standards. Alleged breaches can trigger a fitness-to-practise investigation, after which GMC case examiners may either resolve the matter or refer it to the MPTS for a formal hearing.
The tribunal conducted at least 238 new hearings in 2025, up from 185 in 2024. Around 260 hearings were identified between July 2025 and July 2026, with most involving doctors of nationalities other than Nigerian. Nevertheless, at least one Nigerian-related case was reportedly heard in almost every month during the period.
The cases come against the backdrop of the United Kingdom remaining one of the largest destinations for Nigerian medical professionals.
More than 5,600 doctors have moved from Nigeria to the UK over the past decade, while the NHS identified Nigerians as one of its five largest employee nationality groups in 2024.
The review also highlighted differences in disciplinary transparency between the two countries. While the MPTS routinely publishes hearings and decisions, the report said comparable comprehensive disciplinary records were not readily accessible on the website of Nigeria’s Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria.
Overall, suspensions formed the largest sanction category, accounting for about 56 per cent of the 18 Nigerian cases reviewed, while the individual cases ranged from serious criminal and sexual misconduct to unsafe clinical practice, dishonesty, drug possession, driving offences and failures to comply with professional regulatory obligations.
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