Doctors demand release of abducted colleague, 20 medical students

The Association of Resident Doctors of Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital, Sagamu, Ogun State, on Monday, demanded for the release of their colleague, Dr Ganiyat Popoola, abducted in December last year in Kaduna State.

They are also demanding the release 20 medical students of University of Jos and University of Maiduguri who were abducted along Otukpa-Otukpo-Enugu Road in Benue State on Thursday.

The ARD members, led by their President, Dr Olusola Monehin, on Monday held a rally round the hospital, singing solidarity songs.

They demanded an unconditional release Dr Popoola and two others kidnapped by suspected bandits in December.

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Dr Popoola is said to be a registrar in the Department of Ophthalmology at the National Eye Centre, Kaduna, before her abduction alongside her husband and seven-year-old nephew.

But while her husband was released in March, the doctor and her nephew have continued to languish away in the custody of their kidnappers.

The doctors, during the protest carried banners and placards bearing messages such as ‘FG must help bring back Dr Ganiyat Popoola’, ‘We demand the release of Dr Popoola now’, ‘The security agencies should help free Dr Popoola’, among others.

Speaking during the protest, Monehin said “All we are saying is that the federal government should deploy all the resources at their disposal to free Dr Ganiyat Popoola. This a mother of five for God’s sake. She even has a six month old baby as at the time she was abducted.

“Here is a woman contributing her quota to qualitative health care delivery in the country, serving people with all her passion and over seven months after her abduction, we have not seen her return together with her nephew.

“And just on Thursday, 20 medical students of the University of Jos were waylaid and abducted in Benue. This goes to show that the insecurity challenge is not getting better. We are therefore calling on the appropriate authorities to act fast. Also, while reflecting on the ongoing strike in the hospital over payment disparity, Dr Monehin called on notable indigenes of the state to prevail on the governor to accede to their demands.