The Kogi State House of Assembly Majority Leader, Suleiman Abdulrazak, has denied accusations of vandalising the Federal Teaching Hospital (FTH) Lokoja and engaging in violence following the death of his father-in-law.

AbdulRazak’s statement comes in response to a press release issued by the FTH, which claimed the lawmaker led thugs’ who vandalized hospital property and brutalized staff on January 23rd.

The Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) subsequently called for Abdulrazak’s arrest and prosecution, alleging that he led hoodlums in physically assaulting medical doctors and health workers at the hospital.

However, Abdulrazak, in a statement, admits visiting the hospital with two of his brothers and a colleague but refutes these claims of violence and vandalism, calling them “calculated attempts of a campaign of calumny” against him.

The lawmaker also stated that his father-in-law died due to alleged delays and negligence by hospital staff and recounts arriving at the hospital to find the A&E department locked and encountering unresponsive doctors.

According to him, his father-in-law was referred from Reference Hospital Okene to the Federal Teaching Hospital in Lokoja.

But upon arrival, he said the hospital staff removed the oxygen mask without proper improvisation and left him unattended for three hours before his demise.

“It is worthy of note that there were about two cases of death resulting from negligence by the staffs of the management when we arrived. Hence, there were other aggrieved relatives of victims of the hospital’s negligence on ground,” Abdulrazak said.

“I headed towards the A&E department, the gate was fully padlocked in chains. I proceeded to a
nearby office where two suspected Doctors were seated, I greeted, introduced myself, sorted
audience with them and asked who was the Doctor in charge of the A&E ward.

“It took them a while to give a response to my greeting and then told me to go and meet the management, while ignoring my question. The rude, nonchalant and unprofessional attitude from them is not what anyone who just lost a loved one would love to experience.”

The Majority Leader said there was a chaotic scene upon his arrival at the hospital involving frustrated relatives, hospital staff, and unidentified men in plain clothes and claims one of these men, not him or his associates, fired shots within the hospital, prompting his colleague’s security detail to disarm him.

“Coming out of their office, there was already a rowdy environment involving some unknown
men on mufti, staffers and relatives of victims of the hospital. This led to the hospital security
personnel locking the entrance gate and holding us hostage.

“While the rowdy session was still on within the hospital’s compound, a man from nowhere, dressed in mufti and had no means of identification began to shoot sporadically from behind us. It took the intervention of the security aides of my colleague who joined us at the scene to disarm him of the AK-47 riffle.”

“I want to state categorically that I never took thugs to Federal Teaching Hospital Lokoja, I never vandalized any of their facilities or brutalized any of their Doctors or other staffers on the January 23rd, 2024.

“The allegations of me or any of my colleagues going there that evening to shoot guns or vandalise the hospital’s facilities over the death of my father-in-law are false. They are all calculated attempts of campaign of calumny on my person and office,

“It is quite unfortunate and a show of ineptitude that the management of the Federal Teaching Hospital in Lokoja pays more attention to malicious social media propaganda and campaigns of calumny than they do to quality health delivery for the good people of Kogi State.”

The lawmaker also disclosed that he has petitioned relevant authorities and regulatory agencies to investigate the incident and the hospital’s practices expressed confidence in justice being served and urged the public to seek truth amidst the conflicting narratives.