{"id":132317,"date":"2026-02-26T18:02:48","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T18:02:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/nigeria-to-hold-inquest-into-death-of-chimamanda-ngozi-adichies-toddler\/"},"modified":"2026-02-26T18:02:48","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T18:02:48","slug":"nigeria-to-hold-inquest-into-death-of-chimamanda-ngozi-adichies-toddler","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/nigeria-to-hold-inquest-into-death-of-chimamanda-ngozi-adichies-toddler\/","title":{"rendered":"Nigeria to hold inquest into death of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie\u2019s toddler"},"content":{"rendered":"

LAGOS Feb 26 \u2013 An inquest into the death of Nigerian novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie\u2019s 21-month-old son will formally begin on 14 April.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The date was set during a preliminary hearing at the Yaba Magistrate Court in Lagos, roughly seven weeks after Nkanu Nnamdi Esege died at a Euracare hospital.<\/p>\n

Adiche and her family have accused Euracare of negligence, saying medics denied Nkanu oxygen and gave him too much sedation, causing a cardiac arrest.<\/p>\n

The hospital expressed its \u201cdeepest sympathies\u201d over the death but denied wrongdoing, saying its care had been in line with international standards.<\/p>\n

During the preliminary hearing on Wednesday, Magistrate Atinuke Adetunji directed all parties to file witness statements ahead of the inquest.<\/p>\n

The court is expected to hear evidence from medical experts and hospital representatives as the coroner seeks to establish the circumstances and cause of Nkanu\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

According to submissions made to the court by Adichie\u2019s legal team, Nkanu had initially been admitted to Atlantis Hospital in Lagos with what was described as a worsening but mild illness.<\/p>\n

Plans had been made to transfer him to the United States for further treatment at Baltimore\u2019s Johns Hopkins Hospital.<\/p>\n

But first, Atlantis Hospital referred the toddler to Euracare for pre-flight investigations, including an MRI and a spinal tap, or lumbar puncture.<\/p>\n

He died on 7 January after undergoing these procedures.<\/p>\n

In a legal notice three days later, lawyers for Adichie and her husband, Dr Ivara Esege, accused Euracare of breaching the duty of care owed to the child.<\/p>\n

The hospital denied this allegation.<\/p>\n

Adichie, 48, is an award-winning writer known for a string of internationally successful novels, such as Half of a Yellow Sun and Americanah.<\/p>\n

She was born and raised in Nigeria but is now based in the US.<\/p>\n

Adichie had her first child, a daughter, in 2016. Nkanu was one of twin boys born in 2024, using a surrogate.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LAGOS Feb 26 \u2013 An inquest into the death of Nigerian novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie\u2019s 21-month-old son will formally begin on 14 April. The date was set during a preliminary hearing at the Yaba Magistrate Court in Lagos, roughly seven weeks after Nkanu Nnamdi Esege died at a Euracare hospital. Adiche and her family have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-132317","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132317","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=132317"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132317\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=132317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=132317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=132317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}