BY JUDE OSSAI / ENUGU
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Workers of Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Enugu on Tuesday debunked
the anti-Managing Director protest held at the hospital gate on August 30, this year, saying it was a stage-managed demonstration by a group of “hired thugs”.
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Leaders of the Joint Health Sector Union (JOHESU), National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives (NANNM), Association of Resident Doctors (ARD), and Medical and Dental Consultants Association of Nigeria (MDCAN) of the Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Enugu, on behalf of the workers distanced themselves from the purported protest.
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Dr. Jane Nnabuchi of MDCAN; Dr Mbachu Ferguson of ARD; and Comrade Obinna Eze of JOHESU, while addressing staff of the Neuropsychiatric Hospital at the Institution premises, said the protest was a stage-managed one by a group of “hired thugs” that called themselves Civil Society Organisation (CSO) alleging that there is no peace in the hospital.
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Parts of their statement read:
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“Our collective attention has been drawn to the stage-managed protest that happened during the evening hours of 30th August 2023 in front of our Hospital’s main gate, Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital Enugu
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“We hereby debunk the stage-managed protest by a group of HIRED THUGS that called themselves Civil Society Organisation (CSO) alleging that there is no peace in the Hospital and that the workers are unhappy alongside other allegations levelled against the Medical Director Prof. Monday Igwe.
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“We hereby state categorically that the pieces of information are not only false, but was made to mislead the general public and to cause confusion.
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“We therefore, state as follows;
. That there is no criss in our Hospital, Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital Enugu.
• That our Hospital is peaceful and workers are happy with the administration of the Medical Director, Prof. Monday Igwe.
• That the stage-managed protest on 30th August, 2023 was done by thugs hired to discredit and destabilize the Medical Director and our hospital’s activity.
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“We want to challenge anybody on that protest video circulating around to provide any proof of identity as Staff of Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Enugu or Student of the School of Post Basic Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing of our Hospital
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“Ordinarily, we would have ignored the publication and the perpetrators of this dastardly and worthless act, but we are issuing a rejoinder to stop them from misleading the general public and most importantly, to put the information in the proper perspective.
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“On Thursday 14th September, we also witnessed a sponsored attempt at harassing and abducting our Medical Director under the guise of “arrest” by 3 unidentified police officers who came with an unmarked sienna vehicle from Awka , Anambra State.
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“The situation created a scene and disrupted the activities of the hospital Community and would have escalated to an uglier scenario if not for the intervention of Enugu State Police Command.
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“It is worthy of note that unions from our hospital have written to the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare on several occasions in the past regarding the obnoxious activities of this particular staff of school of post basic psychiatric and mental health Nursing of our hospital who is behind all the negative activities in the hospital since 2015 and all these have been to no avail.
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“The Federal Government and of course the general public are advised to disregard the publication by this staff and his cohorts whose primary aim is to drag the name of our peaceful and hardworking Medical Director in the mud.
The members of Staff have been enjoying peace, infrastructural and human capacity development since the inception of Prof Monday Igwe’s leadership in 2019.
This is verifiable.
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“We, the members of Joint Health Sector Union (JOHESU), National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives (NANNM) , Association of Resident Doctors (ARD), and Medical and Dental Consultants Association of Nigeria (MDCAN) of the Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Enugu therefore, distance ourselves from and condemn that stage-managed protest of 30th August 2023 as well as the attempted abduction “arrest” of our Medical Director on Thursday 14th September 2023.
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