The Majority Leader at the Kogi State House of Assembly, Suleiman Abubakar, has mobilised hoodlums to assault medical doctors and other health workers at the Federal Teaching Hospital, Lokoja over the death of his relative, causing commotion in the health facility.
Abubakar, who represents Okene 1 constituency in the Kogi State House of Assembly, allegedly led the hoodlums on Tuesday who broke through the gates of the teaching hospital.
Recounting the incident to SaharaReporters on Wednesday morning, one of the medical doctors stated that the lawmaker tore their shirts and beat up every health worker on duty.
He said, “My team was called to the A&E to review a new patient. A group of men in kaftan broke through the gate and started demanding for the doctors on duty. Apparently, they lost a patient. And they came for the doctors. One of them, I learnt, is a political leader.
“I was looking at them, confused, because I didn’t even know the patient in question. Next thing I knew, the leader stoned his phones at me. We were just three doctors there. We stood up from there and went inside. They broke into the room where we were, held me and my male colleague, almost tearing our shirts. I was too confused to speak. They were so many. We managed to break away from the A&E and left to another ward.
“These men started destroying things in the A&E, beating any worker they saw, nurses, doctors, security men. The CSO came at them with a gun, as they had become really violent. They wrestled the gun from the man, with several shots released during the struggle. The hospital gate was locked. We are currently hiding in different locations in the hospital.
“The man in white kaftan was the one that assaulted us. He’s the majority leader in the Kogi State House of Assembly. He was the one that stoned his phones at me, hit me and my colleague, and lead the violence. Here you can see him trying to wrestle the gun out of the CSO.”
Another doctor, @k_f2d working at the hospital who also confirmed this on Tuesday in a series of tweets on X, said she was directly assaulted and that one of her coworkers was so badly injured that he had to undergo a chest X-ray.
She added that the lawmaker and his men also destroyed some properties of the hospital and beat anybody who tried to stop them including the security men.
When contacted Kogi State Police PPRO, William Ovye Aya for his reaction, he told SaharaReporters he was currently at the ongoing recruitment venue in the state and said he would get back later.
