The management of the Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital, Calabar, has refuted allegations that its Acting Medical Director sponsored thugs to attack protesters during a demonstration over the appointment of a substantive Medical Director.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, the hospital described the allegation, published by an online medium, as false and an attempt to discredit its leadership amid the controversy surrounding the appointment process.

 

The management was reacting to claims that Castro Ezama, a former aide to former Cross River State Governor Ben Ayade, was assaulted by suspected thugs during Friday’s protest at the hospital.

 

According to the statement, the hospital received intelligence before the protest and alerted the Nigeria Police Force and the Department of State Services (DSS), which deployed security personnel to the facility before the demonstrators arrived.

 

It said the protest attracted about eight persons, lasted less than 10 minutes and ended without any protester being harmed.

 

The management denied sponsoring or authorising any individual or group to confront the protesters, insisting that neither the Acting Medical Director nor any member of the hospital’s leadership was involved in any act of violence.

 

It added that staff members had been directed before the protest to remain calm, exercise restraint and avoid any form of confrontation. The hospital said the security measures were informed by its experience during the 2020 EndSARS protests, when the facility was vandalised and some workers sustained injuries.

 

On the appointment of a substantive Medical Director, the management clarified that the interview for the position was conducted by the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare in Abuja on June 11, stressing that the hospital neither organised nor supervised the exercise and that no official result had been released.

 

The hospital urged aggrieved parties to channel their grievances to the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare rather than the institution, warning that protests within a psychiatric facility could disrupt services to vulnerable patients.

 

It also disclosed that security agencies had been notified of the allegation and expressed its readiness to cooperate with any independent investigation into the matter, while reaffirming its commitment to quality healthcare delivery in collaboration with relevant authorities in the state.