TELL Magazine

Members of the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors, NARD, University of Benin Teaching Hospital, UBTH branch, Edo State, temporarily hung their stethoscopes Tuesday morning as they protested the killing of one of their own, 36-year-old Otote Osaikhuomwan of the Department of Ophthalmology.

Osaikhumwan was reportedly killed in the early hours of Monday at his Ugbor area residence in Benin City, in the presence of his pregnant wife. The killers were said to have gone straight into his apartment and shot him at close range in the chest region, and carted away some personal items.

President of the ARD, Elamah Ikpemimoghena, who broke down in tears, noted that insecurity had been one of the reasons for brain drain in the country.
Ikpemimoghena said “This is a very unfortunate incident. It came to us as a rude shock, and it boils down to the general insecurity in the state, and in the country at large. Something that we have always complained about, something that has made a lot of our colleagues reconsider their stance in working in Nigeria. Insecurity is gaining a very scary trend and that has led to a lot of brain drain.

“A lot of our members have left the country just because of insecurity. We call on the relevant authorities to ensure that they bring the perpetrators to book and give justice to our friend, our brother, a hardworking, calm fellow. Somebody that we know cannot hurt a fly. We don’t know why this happened to him, but we hope that God will grant the family, the department and everyone here in UBTH, and NARD the fortitude to bear this irreparable loss.”

Also speaking, the spokesperson of ARD, UBTH, Era Eugene, urged security agencies not to ignore the possibility of assassination in their investigation because “What is of particular concern to us in respect of this incident is we are concerned about the nature of the incident. Information available to us suggests that his apartment was the only apartment robbed in the compound. And why it is worrisome is it looked more like a targeted attack. We are having concerns about that, and it is our opinion that the security operatives rise up to the occasion”.

The Edo State Police Public Relations Officer, Bello Kontongs, superintendent of police, SP, confirmed the killing. Kontongs said the Division where the incident happened has commenced preliminary investigation and would transfer their findings to the State Command.

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