Enugu nurses protest killing of colleague, demand arrest and prosecution of killers

Enugu State Nurses and Midwives under the aegis of the National Association of Nurses and Midwives (NANNM) have protested the killing of their colleague, Mrs. Maria Amadi.

Amadi, who was shot dead on Thursday, March 27, at about 4pm in front of her residence at Federal Housing estate, Enugu by suspected gunmen that trailed her from the office, was until her death, Head of Nursing Services, Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital Enugu.

Piqued by her gruesome murder, her colleagues marched round various streets of Enugu with placards yesterday, and demanded the arrest and prosecution of her killers

Dressed in black attires, the medical workers matched to the State police headquarters and the Government House, calling on the state governor to do something before the state is turned into a war zone.

“We demand safety of lives in FNHE; we need speedy investigation; we demand government to look into the crisis in FNHE; killers of Maria Amadi have murdered their sleep,” some of the placards read.

Meanwhile, Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi has offered N5 million to any person or persons with information on the perpetrators. He made the offer when the Nurses and Midwives in their numbers, accompanied by the Joint Health Sector Union (JOHESU) and Association of Resident Doctors (ARD), visited him at the Government House, to seek his intervention towards the unraveling of the assailants.

The governor who disclosed that the money will be made available immediately to the State Commissioner of Police, Suleiman Balarabe, stressed that it will go a long way in ensuring that those who perpetrated the dastardly act are apprehended and made to face the wrath of the law.

“To tell you that we are serious, I am making available the sum of N5 million to the Commissioner of Police, Enugu State Command for any person or persons that will provide information about the people that killed this nursing officer.

“It is a bad story and we will get to the root of this crime. You have done well by showing your grievances peacefully. It has shown that you love the late Dr. Maria Amadi and I know that wherever she is, she will know that her colleagues did not abandon her,” Ugwuanyi said.

In a related development, the governor, has also approved the release of N10 million to the wife and children of the Secretary to Uzo-Uwani Local Government Area, Dr. Nnamdi Peter Ogueche who was killed by yet-to-be-identified hoodlums.

The governor’s gesture was for the upkeep of his immediate family in keeping with his commitment to assist them to overcome their challenges.