By SCM Staff Writer
UYO, NIGERIA – Medical professionals across Nigeria are in a state of fury following reports of a “reckless and barbaric” assault on a high-ranking professor and his colleagues by government anti-graft agents within the walls of a public hospital in Uyo, Akwa Ibom.
The Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) has issued a blistering directive to its branches nationwide, signaling a potential showdown with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) after Professor Eyo Ekpe, a distinguished surgeon, was allegedly brutalized and detained while on duty.
Chaos in the Clinic.
The incident, which took place at the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital (UUTH) in Akwa Ibom State, has sent shockwaves through the international medical community. Witness accounts suggest that operatives of the EFCC—Nigeria’s elite financial crimes unit—stormed the hospital premises, leading to a violent confrontation with medical staff.
Professor Ekpe, who serves as the Deputy Chairman of the Medical Advisory Committee (DCMAC) at the hospital, was reportedly caught in the middle of the fracas. The NMA claims the professor and several other staff members were subjected to “unwarranted harassment” and “brutalization” while they were in the middle of providing life-saving medical services to the public.
In an official communique released by the National Publicity Secretary, Prof Olayinka Atilola, the NMA’s National Officers Committee (NOC) did not mince words. Led by President Dr (Prof) Afekhide Ernest Omoti, the association has vowed to seek “complete redress at the highest quarters.”
”The NOC condemns, in the strongest possible terms, such alleged reckless and barbaric behaviors displayed by operatives within the premises of a public hospital,” the statement read. “This NOC will not tolerate continuing harassment of doctors in any form whatsoever.”
The directive issued to all State and FCT branches represents a significant escalation in the tension between the medical profession and law enforcement in Africa’s most populous nation.
A New Protocol for Conflict
The NMA President has now mandated a “minimum demand for truce” across the country. According to the new directive:
Identification & Prosecution: State branches must demand the immediate identification and prosecution of any law enforcement agent who harasses a doctor on duty.
Lawful Retaliation: The Akwa Ibom branch has been given “full support” to continue all lawful measures, which many fear could lead to a localized or even national strike.
The “Decency” Standard: While the NMA clarified it does not wish to obstruct the law, it insisted that any investigation must be conducted with “common decency expected of modern law enforcement.”
Critics of the EFCC have long accused the agency of using “Gestapo-like” tactics, but an assault inside a teaching hospital marks a new low for many observers. Medical practitioners in Uyo have expressed disbelief that a surgeon of Professor Ekpe’s standing could be hauled away like a common criminal while tending to patients.
”If a Professor of Medicine isn’t safe in his own theatre, who is?” asked one local medic, speaking on condition of anonymity. “The hospital is a sanctuary. Bringing guns and violence into a place of healing is an act of thuggery, not law enforcement.”
The NMA has confirmed it has begun “high-level engagements” with the Nigerian government to address the breach of protocol. The association is demanding an apology and strict disciplinary action against the officers involved.
As of press time, the EFCC has not released an official statement regarding the specific reasons for the raid or the detention of Professor Ekpe. However, the NMA’s message is clear: the medical community is standing its ground.
With the threat of industrial action looming, the Nigerian government faces a race against time to pacify a medical sector that is already struggling with a massive “brain drain” to the UK and USA. For now, the doctors of Nigeria have sent a stern warning: The stethoscopes are staying down until justice is served.
