Workers at the Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital in Enugu successfully thwarted an attempted abduction of the institution’s Medical Director, Dr. Monday Igwe. Three unidentified individuals arrived at the facility in an unmarked Toyota Sienna bus and went directly to Dr. Igwe’s office on Thursday afternoon.
According to a hospital source, they attempted to forcibly remove Dr. Igwe from his office, but alarmed and agitated workers demanded an explanation for their actions. The workers quickly raised the alarm, drawing the attention of other hospital staff. The hospital’s security personnel then locked the entrance and exit gates, preventing anyone from entering or leaving the premises.
During this time, a call was made to the New Haven Police Division, and the Divisional Police Officer promptly arrived at the scene with his team. The suspected abductors revealed that they were police officers from the Zone 13 Command in Ukpo, Anambra State, claiming they had come to arrest the medical director based on a purported petition against him.
This explanation did not satisfy the outraged workers, who questioned the secretive manner in which their boss was about to be taken away. Tempers flared, and the DPO reportedly took the men to the Area Commander, who reprimanded them for not following proper police operational procedures.
The matter was subsequently brought to the attention of the Commissioner of Police, who cautioned the officers involved in the incident regarding their operational methods and tactics.
A union leader at the hospital suggested that Afam Ndu, the acting Principal of the School of Post-Basic Psychiatric Nursing, was allegedly behind the petition. The union representative expressed concern about Ndu’s history of being involved in various disputes at the hospital over the past 13 years. It was reported that Ndu had purportedly engaged non-existent civil society organizations to disrupt the hospital’s operations.
“Those people actually came with sinister motive. It took the intervention of the workers to save the situation before the DPO came with his men. They wanted to literally abduct him, but we resisted their attempt,” he said.
Neither the police nor the hospital’s Medical Director provided comments on the incident.
