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Head of Nursing Services (HNS) at Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital (FNH), Enugu, Mrs. Mary Amadi, was murdered in cold blood on March 21. Since the incident, the psychiatric hospital and the family of the deceased have been thrown into grief and confusion. KENNETH OFOMA reports on the anger, revelations and twists following the murder
Not many people were surprised that the never- ending can of worms bedeviling the Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital (FNH), Enugu had finally claimed one life.
T hat was the tipping point, for a tragedy that many foretold. Those familiar with the in-fighting within the hospital had severally warned that if not resolved permanently, the crisis may end in disaster and also continue to impact negatively on the growth and service delivery in the federal health institution.
The hospital had severally been embroiled in labour unrest, series of allegations of graft, in-fighting, academic and NYSC discharge certificates forgery, and highhandedness among some senior staff of the hospital. It would be recalled that the hospital had in the past three to four years faced endless internal industrial disharmony.
Sometimes, the immediate past Medical Director (MD), Dr. Jojo Onwukwe, found himself at the centre of the crisis where he was pitched against the labour unions; and at some other times, found himself on the same page with the labour leaders, who would unite against some senior staff of the hospital allegedly misleading the Medical Director. The development created permanent state of crisis and all for the pecuniary interests of those involved.
Even when former MD, Dr. Jojo retired February this year, and was replaced with Acting Medical Director, Dr. Obiora Iteke, many people thought that the crisis would abate but that was not to be.
Murder of Chief Nursing Officer, revelations before her death
The bubble finally burst with the assassination of Amadi. She was reportedly shot dead March 21, at about 4pm in front of her house at Federal Housing Estate near NOWAS, Enugu. She had reportedly closed from work and headed home. As if she had a premonition of the impending doom, she reportedly had a detour to St. Leo’s Catholic Church near her house to pray. The assailants, who were probably trialing her from the office on seeing her branch to the church, moved on and waited for her at the front of her residence.
The Director of Nursing Services, unaware of the danger lurking ahead, drove straight home after the church prayers, and was said to have even greeted the strangers at the gate of the entrance to her house. She was about to open the gates when she was shot by her assailants who made a U-turn and sped off. Amadi did not die instantly. She was said to have been rushed to Parklane Hospital, where doctors battled unsuccessfully to save her life. But on their way to the hospital, she reportedly told those carrying her to first take her to police station, which they did.
And some senior police officers joined the vehicle to the hospital. And while on transit she was shouting, “Oh! So these people have killed me. They have killed me.” And she would mention the names of two persons said to be staff of the psychiatric hospital where she works. Reports had it that police officers accompanying them to the hospital were taking notes. On getting to Parklane Hospital, the doctors there battled to save her life but lacked the necessary equipment.
So, they recommended she be taken to a private facility, Niger Foundation Hospital Enugu. But on getting to the private hospital, she gave up the ghost before the operation could commence to remove the bullets/pellets, which the suspected hired assassins pumped into her stomach with a pump action gun.
The deceased worked at Parklane Teaching Hospital, Enugu and later moved to the State Ministry of Health before she got appointed as Head of Nursing Services at the Federal Psychiatric Hospital, Enugu. The mother of two was said to have bagged her doctorate degree before her death.
The death of the Nursing Director threw her family, community (Aku), hospital and the entire state into a state of mourning. But many believed that it was God that made the deceased not to die immediately, so that she could name those who masterminded her murder.
So, even from the grave, the deceased appeared to be fighting back. And that was exactly what led to immediate arrest of two suspects by the police. The two suspects (names withheld) are the most senior staff (one following the other in rank) of the School of Nursing Services of the hospital.
A broken husband gives reasons
The husband of the deceased, Mr. Marcel Amadi, a retired civil servant, was still in shock when our correspondent visited his house recently. He accused the police of romancing with the arrested suspects, who were said to be highly connected. He lamented: “It was on Thursday 21st of March, 2019 in the evening. It was a dark day for me.
My wife was coming back from work and on her way to open our gate to enter the compound, some assassins that were waiting for her, she greeted them and passed according to the children who were there when the incident happened. So, what they saw is that they started raining bullets on her with pump action. “I was at the press centre that day for a meeting and just as I was coming out of the car to join the meeting, the phone rang and the caller told me that this is what happened to my wife; that they needed my attention…
Immediately I rushed to the hospital but before I could get to the Parklane, I spoke to my sister that was living opposite the hospital that this is what I heard and she rushed to the hospital at the emergency unit and saw my wife in a pool of blood and they were battling with all the medical doctors and nurses to save her.
“So she told me that my wife is still alive and she gave my wife phone and she spoke to me ‘daddy I am alive’. I started rushing and when I got to the hospital, I saw that the type of bullet they rained on my wife I don’t think she would survive it.
The Parklane hospital, they did their best; the same time they couldn’t because they wanted to carry out operation on her abdomen because that is where the whole thing shattered but they don’t have some equipment and they said we should rush her to Niger Foundation and we rushed her to Niger Foundation Hospital and she got to the theater, she couldn’t help it again and she gave up. “I was holding my wife in my palms inside the ambulance with three pints of blood they fused on her and she gave up.
“But before my wife gave up the ghost, she was crying. Even when I came, she said daddy this two people have killed me. Even the DPO Trans-Ekulu confirmed because he followed her down to the hospital, recording all what she was saying. She said that they have succeeded in killing her by sending assassins to kill her and she was screaming and kept calling their name until she gave up.”
Mr. Amadi attributed the killing of his wife to jealousy. He said that his wife had severally complained to him about those she mentioned that were after her. He said the suspected masterminds of the assassination did not want to be subordinates to her wife.
“It is after her death that somebody from her office told me I should check her bag, there may be a document that my wife have in her bag, or may be in the office. Later, we discovered that that document was in her office; so that document was a document recommended from the Nursing Council for accreditation of that school which they came last year when the former MD was there; during former MD, Onwukwe period.
“So, the current man that came, the acting MD will tell you that this people are tyrannical; they never obeyed hospital regulation and my wife never bordered about their activities.
If they bring document to my wife, she will tell them to go and submit to MD; that it is the MD that will give her instruction and she will implement but they felt they cannot do that. They want my wife to admit any document they bring to her to sign for students that come for experience in that Basic School which had been closed by the Nursing Council that came for assessment for accreditation.
“They had been running the school with the previous MD because the School is no go area. They don’t give account of the money they collect from the school. All the trouble in that hospital is being spearheaded by the Vice Principal academic,” he alleges. Amadi said that he saw the photocopy of the letter sent by Midwifery and Nursing Council, which some people hijacked.
According to him, “the letter was sent on December 17, 2018 and they hijacked the letter. “The letter contained all the things they had discovered in the school. So, after the person asked me to check my wife’s bag that I saw the letter and started going through that letter, because the person told me that somebody brought that letter to my wife through the ministry; that somebody photocopied it to their office, that anything that happened to my wife is in that letter; that these people hijacked that letter.
“And I told the caller that my wife had not got that letter and the caller said that one of her colleague from other hospital brought the letter to her which the Midwifery and Nurses Council wrote about the school; that if they don’t do all those things in the letter that the school should be closed indefinitely.
“So, I saw it and I read through the letter and I discovered their recommendation; they said that vice principal has no certificate which my wife discovered sometime earlier and my wife overlooked because she wasn’t the hospital management that employed such person.
“The Council recommended in the letter that he should be removed entirely from the school, that the management should find a place where to place him but not in the nursing school or nursing department at all, let alone becoming vice principal. That he has no certificate and no license that he is not qualified to be in that area at all. That the woman on her part has no tutors’ certificate; she has no experience, she has no knowledge of administration.
They can manage her in the ward; that when they came, all the questions they asked her, she referred to the vice principal academic and when they met the vice principal academics, he would be confused because he had no knowledge of what they were doing,” he alleged. He said that the Council had warned the management to settle the crisis as quickly as possible before a lot of thing will happen; especially the HNS (Head of Nursing Services) that they don’t agree with the HNS instruction and because of that they attack HNS all the time.
Amadi said he was not satisfied with the pace of investigation, saying “I quarreled with the IPO while they (suspects) were still behind the counter. Since they arrested them, the police had kept them behind the counter.
“I am begging the Inspector General of Police to see how he can take over the matter or ensure a thorough investigation because my wife wants justice,” he appealed. Reacting to the murder, the State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Ebere Amaraizu, a Superintendent of Police (SP), Enugu State quoted the state Commissioner of Police, Sulaiman Balarabe, as being displeased over the dastardly incident.
“On receipt of the report, the Commissioner of Police, Sulaiman Balarabe, directed the state Criminal Investigations Department Enugu State to commence a full scale investigation, which has given birth to the arrest of two vital suspects in connection with the dastardly act. “Suspects are now helping the operatives in their investigations. The commissioner of police has further assured the public that any further person linked in the said crime will be arrested, investigated and be brought to book just as manhunt on the remaining fleeing suspects have been intensified,” he said in a statement.
Governor’s pledge amid protests
Meanwhile, the state Governor, Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, pained by the horrendous murder, placed N5 million bounty on the assassins. He said that anybody who volunteered information that would lead to the arrest of the assassins would claim the money.
The governor’s pledge came on the heels of protests by the National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives (NANNM) in Enugu State and health workers at the Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital Enugu, who staged a protest rally, demanding the arrest and prosecution of the killers of their colleague, Mrs Maria Amadi.
To register their grievances to the authorities, the members of the association with other health workers, stormed the streets of Enugu, carrying placards with various inscriptions like “we demand the safety of lives in FNHE; “we need speedy investigation”; “we demand government to look into the crisis in FNHE” and “killers of Dr. Maria Amadi have murdered their sleep,” among others. While addressing the workers at the Neuropsychiatric Hospital before embarking on the protest, the state Chairman of Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), Mr. Viginus Nwobodo, called on the police to ensure that the killers of Mrs. Amadi did not escape justice. “The killers of Mrs. Amadi can only run now but cannot escape justice.
I know our police can catch them if they want to do their job,” he said. In a protest letter to the acting Inspector General of Police, which the protesting health workers handed to the state Commissioner of Police, signed by Mr Ezekiel Omeh and Mr Phyllis Uzokwe, state chairman and secretary of NANNM respectively, they called for an urgent investigation into the killing. Ugwuanyi while offering N5 million to any person with information on the assassination of Mrs. Amadi, condemned the unfortunate incident and promised “to get to the root of this crime”.
Similarly, the people of Aku community under the aegis of Aku General Assembly, in Igbo- Etiti Local Government Area of Enugu State, called on the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to take over the investigation of the assassination of their daughter, Late Maria Amadi.
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