Twenty-one years after the tragic death of Nigeria’s former First Lady, Stella Obasanjo, a Spanish court has jailed the plastic surgeon whose botched cosmetic procedure led to her demise.
Mrs. Obasanjo, wife of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, died on October 23, 2005, in Marbella, Spain, following complications from a liposuction surgery at the Molding Clinic.
What was described as a routine cosmetic procedure quickly spiraled into a medical emergency.
Surgery Gone Wrong
Court documents revealed that during the operation, the surgeon, Antonio Mena, mistakenly inserted a cannula into Mrs. Obasanjo’s abdominal cavity instead of the subcutaneous fat layer.
Prosecutors told the court that the error caused severe internal injuries, including perforations to vital organs, which ultimately led to fatal complications.
“The procedure was carried out without due diligence and in clear breach of established medical standards,” a prosecutor was quoted as telling the court during the trial.
Medical experts who testified said the depth and direction of the cannula insertion showed “gross negligence,” adding that immediate corrective steps were not taken once complications became apparent.
Conviction and Sentence
After years of legal proceedings and appeals, a Spanish court found Mena guilty of professional negligence resulting in death. He was sentenced to a term of imprisonment and barred from practicing medicine for a specified period.
In its ruling, the court held that the surgeon “failed in his duty of care” and that the errors committed during the surgery were avoidable.
The judgment described the case as one in which “a preventable medical error had irreversible consequences.”
A Case That Shocked Nigeria
The death of Mrs. Obasanjo sent shockwaves across Nigeria and beyond, raising questions about medical tourism and the standards of care provided to high-profile patients abroad.
At the time, the Nigerian government expressed deep grief over her passing. A family associate recalled that “her death was a devastating loss, not only to her family but to the nation.”
More than two decades later, the case remains one of the most widely discussed instances of alleged medical negligence involving a prominent African figure treated overseas.
The conviction of the Spanish surgeon has now brought a measure of legal closure to a tragedy that once gripped the nation.
