Attack: FMC Lokoja shut as workers embark on indefinite strike; PDP seeks Buhari’s intervention; police vow to arrest perpetrators

Following an early morning attack by suspected thugs, doctors, nurses and other health workers at the Federal Medical Centre, Lokoja, have embarked on an indefinite strike.
A statement by the workers in Lokoja on Wednesday said that the action was necessitated by the prevailing insecurity, foisted on the centre by armed thugs, believed to be sponsored.
The statement was signed by Dr Nnana Agwu, Chairman, Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) and Mr Samuel Obajemu, Chairman, Joint Health Workers Union (JOHESU).
Other signatories to the statement were Mr Abdulmalik Idris, Chairman, National Association of Nurses and Midwives (NANNM), Mr John Omoche, Chairman, Medical and Health Workers Union of Nigeria (MHWUN) and Mr Usman Gabriel, Chairman, Senior Staff Association.
The union leaders expressed the regret that aside the violent attack on workers, all the vital equipment needed for their day-to-day work had been carted away by the hoodlums.
“Some equipment like infrared thermometers, laptops, ATM cards, car keys and two motorcycles, which are vital in providing care, were carted away by the hoodlums,” the statement said.
The union leaders also added that the administrative block of the hospital was completely vandalised by the armed thugs, who, they said, came in unregistered Sienna buses.
According to them, the workers will stay off work until security of lives and property at the hospital is guaranteed.
The unions also demanded adequate provision of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for their members as a precondition for calling off the strike.
Part of their demands also were validation of COVID-19 status of the Accident and Emergency unit staff who were on self-isolation, expansion of triangle points and provision of testing facilities (PCR machine).
Meanwhile, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has condemned the attack on by gunmen who carted away documents and equipment used for data collection and management of COVID-19.
PDP condemned the attack in a statement by the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Mr Kola Ologbondiyan, in Abuja.
The party urged security agencies to immediately commence a high- level investigation into the attack, adding that the perpetrators of the act and their sponsors should be made to face the wrath of the law.
The party expressed shock over the violent attack.
Ologbondiyan insisted that such an attack on a medical facility could not be justified under any guise, whatsoever.
“It is, however, revealing that the gunmen shot their way into the Medical Centre at the time the staffers were getting ready for a press conference on issues related to the state’s COVID -19 status.
“The gunmen invaded the record and admin department where they destroyed sensitive documents and carted away computers, in addition to ransacking the office of the Chief Medical Director.
“It is instructive to state that the target and mode of the attack strongly expose a desperate mission to destroy gathered information, suppress statistics and completely disrupt COVID-19 management effort in state,” he said.
Ologbondiyan pleaded with President Muhammadu Buhari to intervene.
Kogi State Police Commissioner, Mr Ede Ayuba, has ordered detectives to go after the hoodlums that launched a violent attack on facilities at the Federal Medical Centre, Lokoja.
Ayuba, who gave the order on Wednesday during a visit to the centre to assess the extent of damage, said that the perpetrators believed to be sponsored political thugs would not go unpunished.
A statement by the spokesman of the Police Command in the state, DSP Aya Williams, said the commissioner had directed his deputy in charge of the Criminal Investigation Department to head the team of investigators.
He assured the staff of the hospital of the readiness of the police to guarantee the safety of their lives and property.
Ayuba enjoined members of the public to go about their lawful activities and supply any information that could lead to the arrest of the fleeing suspects.
Armed political thugs had, in the early hours of the day, had invaded the FMC premises, carting away cash, laptops and telephone handsets, among others.
The invaders, numbering over 50 men and armed with guns, cutlasses and other dangerous weapons, also vandalised the administrative building and accounts office of the Federal Government-owned health facility.
The incident, which occurred about 8:30 a.m., forced relations to immediately evacuate patients from the hospital, while doctors, nurses and other health workers on duty sustained injuries.
The hoodlums were believed to have been sponsored to frustrate a peaceful protest scheduled for Wednesday by the health workers of the Federal Medical Centre.
The health workers, under the aegis of Joint Action Council (JAC), had on June 26 notified the management of a peaceful protest in the hospital premises on July 1.
The protest, according to JAC, is necessitated by the prevailing approach to the diagnosis and treatment of COVID-19 in the state.
Recall that the accident and emergency unit of the hospital was shut down about three weeks ago due to exposure of staff to patients that had tested positive to Coronavirus.
In its reaction, the state government said that the attack was carried out by relations of patients protesting poor quality services at the hospital.
Mr Kingsley Fanwo, Commissioner for Information, in a statement, also blamed the violent attack on failure of the hospital management to attend to patients.
“Many people in the emergency ward were left unattended to and a mother delivered at the gate of the hospital.
“That generated a lot of public tension in the state.
Tension started building since yesterday (June 30) when patients and their relatives learnt of a plan by the medical staff to stage a protest today.
“We urge the people of the state to remain calm as government will ensure maintenance of law and order,” Fanwo said in the statement.
He sued for calm and promised that government would protect workers of the hospital.
The commissioner said that government would carry out further investigations to ascertain the remote causes of the breach of peace by the protesters and also address their fears.