Celebrated Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has publicly accused Euracare Multi-Specialist Hospital in Lagos of obstructing a coronial inquest into the death of her 21-month-old son, Nkanu, who died at the facility on 7 January. Breaking her silence in a statement posted to social media, Adichie said the hospital had "stalled and muddied and obfuscated" the inquiry and was now seeking a court order to block it entirely. "If Euracare cares about the truth, then why create delays and distractions and now, finally, try to stop an inquest?" she wrote.

Nkanu was one of twin boys born to Adichie via surrogacy in 2024. According to her legal team's submissions, he had initially been admitted to Atlantis Hospital in Lagos with a worsening but mild illness, and arrangements were being made to transfer him to Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, in the United States, for further treatment. He was referred to Euracare — located in Victoria Island, Lagos's commercial and diplomatic hub — for a pre-flight assessment, including an MRI scan and a lumbar puncture, but died during or after those diagnostic procedures. Adichie and her family allege that hospital staff denied the toddler oxygen and administered excessive sedation, triggering a cardiac arrest. A panel of Nigeria's Medical and Dental Council had previously found a possible case of medical negligence against the hospital.

The Lagos State High Court temporarily suspended the inquest two weeks before Adichie's statement, after Eurapharma Care Services Nigeria Limited, the hospital's operating company, filed an emergency ex parte application — a legal request made without the opposing party present — before Justice A. O. Opesanwo. Euracare had itself initially requested the inquest in January, citing "rumours of negligence," making its subsequent effort to halt the proceedings a central point of Adichie's criticism. She also alleged that a senior figure connected to the hospital's ownership sent her family an implicit warning that a court case could damage her reputation — a message she described as "manipulative and implicitly threatening."

The hospital has acknowledged the death with "deepest sympathies" but denied any wrongdoing, maintaining that its care met international standards. It attributed Nkanu's death to bacterial meningitis, a claim Adichie disputes, saying there was "no medical evidence" to support that diagnosis on the death certificate and that some medical records provided were incomplete or inaccurate.

Adichie, 48, is one of Africa's most internationally recognised literary voices, known for novels including Half of a Yellow Sun and Americanah, as well as her widely circulated essays on feminism and identity. She is based in the United States but was visiting Nigeria over the Christmas period when her son died. In her statement, she said she published the letter — originally written in April — because silence would amount to complicity. "This weight is too heavy," she wrote. "Our quest for justice will continue."