The last is yet to be heard on the recent alleged employment scam at the Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Enugu where over 60 Nigerians fell victims to a job racket. DAILY POST reports that the Police in Enugu State had earlier arrested Mrs. Stella Achalla, the principal secretary to the Medical Director of the Hospital, Dr. Jojo Onwukwe, who was alleged to be the ring leader of the scam.
Achalla has since been arraigned before a magistrate court sitting in Enugu East Council Area of Enugu State. This is also several other petitions are said to be pending against her at different police formations.
However, the matter took another twist when the victims stormed the Hospital to have an audience with the Medical Director, Dr. Onwukwe. Their move was resisted by men of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, who were drafted earlier to the health institution.
The NSCDC officials, who were said to be acting on the instruction from the hospital authorities, allegedly chased the victims away from the Hospital. While the drama lasted, the Medical Director reportedly left the hospital through an emergency exit route to avoid having audience with the victims.
The enraged victims later stormed media houses in Enugu, where they decried the alleged collabortion of the Hospital management in the said scam.
They wondered why the Medical Director should unleash security operatives on them simply because they had come to lay genuine complaint.
One of the victims, who identified himself as Ikechukwu said “our experience in that Hospital was just terrible. We went there peacefully to lay our complaint to the Medical Director; we were not violent in any way. All we needed was an audience with him so that he could prevail on his secretary to refund our money.
“But to our greatest dismay, security operatives were unleashed on us; I don’t want to believe that the Medical Director is part of this scam. He should not use his body language to make people think otherwise.
“Why should he refuse us audience? If your personal secretary is being accused of certain crime, isn’t it appropriate that you should take interest in these allegations and then make her defend herself?
“I sold my car to raise N600,000 (six hundred thousand naira) for the said job, but right now the whole thing turned out to be a scam. I have lost my money and my car.
“It is not going to end like this; they can’t intimidate us into abandoning our money just like that; we are already considering heading to the EFCC.”
In the meantime, the situation has divided two workers’ unions in the Hospital. This came as the Nigerian Medical Association, Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Enugu branded the victims “hoodlums.”
The Association in a communique it issued after its emergency meeting, signed by Dr. Ubochi V.N, Dr. Unaogu N.N and Dr. Ugwuonye O.K, said they observed “repeated incidences of physical attack on doctors while carrying out their duties in the hospital premises;
“The recent provocative attack on our most senior colleague, (The Chief Executive Officer) of the hospital by unknown persons;
“We express our unflinching solidarity and loyalty to our most senior colleague and Chief Executive Office of the hospital, Dr. Jojo Onwukwe, who had to take an emergency exit out of the hospital to avoid being lynched by unknown hoodlums within the hospital premises.
“The doctors demand a prompt investigation into these matters with a view to fishing out the perpetrators who carried out this dastardly act.”
In a fiery reaction, the Graduate Nurses Association of Nigeria, (UGONSA) and the Association of Psychiatric Nurses of Nigeria, (APNON) issued a counter communique signed by their principal officers- Mr. Chidiebere Eze, Mr. Onwuvuariri Victor, among others.
They wondered why the doctors “wittingly or unwittingly failed to address the root cause of the on-going crisis and the trending issues that the hospital has found herself enmeshed in.”
The group noted that the communiqué by the doctors “has also, in its entirety, failed to address the reason for the hoodlums nor endeavoured to ascertain the identity of the hoodlums but rather hurriedly tagged them “hoodlums” despite the fact that they staged the visit in a broad day light not hooded nor masked.”
The union equally wondered why the NMA should “drag the Nursing School into the matter. Has the Nursing School now become a Medical School?
“Did the NMA or her member identify any of the alleged hoodlums as staff of the Nursing School?
“Since the protest by the hoodlums has the NMA investigated further to ascertain the rational to know if it was related to the scandalous job scam?
“Are they trying to inform the School that the MD sneaked away? Surprisingly, the school is not aware that the MD sneaked away through the back door?”
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