Senator (Prince) Bassey Otu, the governor of Cross River, has urged the protesting Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) members to get back to saving lives as his administration will stop at nothing to get their kidnapped colleague home.
Otu made the request while speaking to associate members who were participating in a nonviolent demonstration calling for the immediate and unconditional release of Prof. Ekanem Philip Ephraim, a member of the group who was abducted in Calabar.
According to the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor Cross River State, the governor is quoted as saying the following:
I want to plead that while we still continue to work for the release of your colleague, please let doctors do the best that they can to save lives, because your main call is to save lives.
I want you to believe us, that just like you, we are also very pained and we are pained that two wrongs will never make a right.
A lot of things are happening in our hospitals and my administration is poised to ensure the enabling environment is created for you to carryout your statutory duties at all times.
Nobody is happy that she was taken even for a day apart from the criminal elements. But we will continue to do everything possible to ensure her safe return to the confines of her family and the association,” the governor assured.
Additionally, the governor assured citizens that his government was collaborating closely with the various security agencies to significantly reduce, if not entirely eliminate, abduction in the state.
The governor also praised the efforts and sacrifices made by medical professionals in the state, saying that his administration will not be deterred by the threats posed by those engaged in criminal activity.
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According to the governor (Senator Bassey Otu):
Though it is a bad situation but at the darkest end of the tunnel, there is always a light. It is true that we have promised the season of sweetness, we will continue to live by the ethos and I know that Rome was not built in a day, the journey of a thousand miles begin one day, not too long we will clear our society of all miscreants.
Prior to this, the state chapter of the National Association of Resident Doctors are extremely concerned after learning that Prof. Ekanem had been with her captors for more than 25 days, according to Dr. Mino Magam, welfare officer of the association. According to Magam:
We are not even sure if our colleague is safe, if she is well and if she is alive.
We have come because the pains we are suffering, we know that other Cross River people are also suffering the pain.
We have come because our absence from our duty posts at this very moment is a reflection of the sad situation in the state in the sense that we cannot even give account of the morbidity and mortality that are silent and still going on in the state right now.
TL;DR
Governor Bassey Otu has urged Nigerian Medical Association members to focus on saving lives, as his administration is working tirelessly to get Prof. Ekanem Philip Ephraim home. Otu made the request during a nonviolent demonstration, urging doctors to do their best to save lives. He assured that the government is working closely with security agencies to reduce, if not entirely eliminate, abduction in the state. Otu praised the efforts and sacrifices made by medical professionals and emphasized that his administration will not be deterred by threats from criminal activity. The state chapter of the National Association of Resident Doctors is concerned about Prof. Ekanem’s safety and well-being, as they know other Cross River residents are also suffering.
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