Abuja resident doctors demand release of colleague kidnapped 7 months ago
By Jeffrey Agbo
The Association of Resident Doctors (ARD), University of Abuja Teaching Hospital (UATH) chapter has called for the immediate release of a kidnapped colleague, Dr Ganiyat Popoola.
Popoola, a medical doctor at National Eye Centre, Kaduna, was abducted with her husband and nephew on December 27, 2023.
The doctors held a solidarity walk on Friday to call for their colleague’s freedom.
President of resident doctors at UATH, Dr Abah Innocent, called on the management of the hospital and the Federal Government to intervene.
Innocent said that kidnappers and abductors now see businesses among health workers who work throughout the day and night to give the best healthcare to their patients.
“We have suddenly become object of trade for abductors. The issue of kidnapping is a pandemic, nobody is spared whether you are a doctor, a housewife or you are a governor.
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“Our colleague, Doctor Ganiyat Popoola, was abducted exactly seven months, 20 days ago.
“She was kidnapped with the husband and her nephew, however, the husband was released in March and our colleague is still there with the abductors, we have evidence that she is still alive,” he said.
Innocent urged the government to task all the relevant security agencies to rise up to the task and ensure the release of the kidnapped resident doctor.
According to him, if Popoola is still alive and the association does nothing, conscience and posterity will not be fair to its members.
He appealed to the Chief Medical Director (CMD) to prevail on the Federal Government to wade into the matter.
The CMD of UATH, Prof Bisallah Ekele, called for calm, and assured the ARD members that Popoola would regain her freedom.
Represented by the Chairman, Medical Advisory Committee, Dr Bob Ukonu, the CMD said that it was a good thing that the association’s members showed concern over the kidnap of their colleague.
“Just about 20 minutes ago, I had a news flash saying that 20 medical students were kidnapped on their way for a programme.
“This is a time you cannot predict what will happen in the next minute. It is unfortunate that Popoola has been under the captivity of these strangers for the past seven months.
“We also feel your pain, we will make our own little contributions in terms of making contact.
“What you have done here today, I want to believe is also being replicated in almost all the hospitals where we have ARD,” he said.
He said that the awareness should be sustained until the abducted medical doctor is released.