By Joseph Kingston, Calabar
Barely six weeks after Dr Inyama Marcus, Associate Professor of Haematology in the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital (UCTH) was kidnapped and released after five days in kidnappers’ den, a female Paeditrician in the same UCTH, Dr Vivien Otu, has been abducted.
Dr Otu was abducted by gun wielding men at Marian by State Housing Estate, Calabar municipality, on Friday night. The dare devil gunmen were said to have shot sporadically into the air before making away with her.
There are, however, contradicting reports on how Doctor Otu was abducted. While it was reported in some quarters that the doctor was whisked away while she was about to enter her vehicle shortly after eating at a popular food joint called BELASH located at Marian, her colleagues said Dr Otu was abducted at the wake of her colleague’s mother, which was in a place close to BELASH and that the kidnappers whisked her away when she went to pick something from her vehicle.
The newly elected state chairman of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Dr Innocent Abang, who confirmed the report, said, “I was told she went to the wake of our colleague’s mother. I think she went to pick her husband, who was sitting with colleagues, and when she got to the place, she wanted to pick something from the car. That was when she was whisked away.
“We have been in contact with security agents. They are trying to get her, but since her phones are not with her. They can’t trace her,” he stated.
Abang restated their resolve to always embark on strike anytime a medical doctor is kidnapped, saying: “The truth is that it is a directive given to us. Whenever any of us is abducted, we have to go on strike. I don’t know how soon that will happen. We are having a meeting today, and it will be decided in the meeting.”
As at press time, DSP Irene Ugbo, spokesman of the Cross River state police command, could not be reached through her telephone lines when our reporter called; but there are fears that NMA in the state may declare indefinite strike over the development.