Details have emerged on how a medical doctor, Uyi Iluobe, was shot dead by gunmen while attending to a disguised patient in Olivet Clinic on December 29, 2022, in Oghara, Ethiope West Local Government Area of Delta State.
Our correspondent gathered that a yet-to-be-identified female patient had approached the clinic and met the doctor with a complaint of serious abdominal pain.
As the doctor was attending to the patient, the latter made a call to some supposed relatives to come to pay her medical bills.
The “relatives” reportedly arrived in a Toyota Hilux, headed for the doctor’s office, and shot him dead before fleeing the scene with the disguised female patient.
The incident has, since generated uproar across the state, with members of the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) threatening to down tools.
The initial narrative doing the rounds about the killing was that the patient’s relatives came to carry out the dastardly act.
But the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Delta State Police Command, DSP Bright Edafe, in a terse statement, said “the rumor making rounds that he (medical doctor) was murdered by the family of the patient who died in the hospital is false.
“There is no record of any patient’s death in the hospital, however, we are investigating to unravel the reason he was murdered and also arrest the suspects.”
Taken aback by the cold murder, the governor of Delta and Vice-Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, deplored the gruesome murder of the medical doctor, Uyi Iluobe, in a hospital in the state.
In a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Olisa Ifeajika, in Asaba, the governor said that the act of the assailants was not only barbaric but reprehensible.
He charged the security agencies to intensify the investigation into the dastardly act, and that they should leave no stone unturned to fish out his assailants and bring them to justice.
Okowa said that the killing of the medical doctor was unjust and unprovoked, adding that it was an act by agents against peace and progress in the state, and should be flayed by every well-meaning Delta.
He commiserated with the family of the deceased and called on residents in the state to be vigilant and report all criminal-related activities to security agencies.
The governor warned criminals to leave the state, saying that every criminal act would be tracked, unraveled, and prosecuted.
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Following the marching order, the Commissioner of Police, Delta State Command, CP Ari Muhammed, on Tuesday, January 2, met with members of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Delta State Chapter, in Asaba.
In a statement made available to journalists after the meeting by DSP Edafe, the CP related how the doctor met his unfortunate end after treating a patient who had pretended to be sick at Oghareki, Oghara, Ethiope West Local Government Area of the state.
He said the patient (name withheld) visited the hospital, Olivet Clinic, on December 29, 2022, pretending to have abdominal pain and called the suspects who came to kill the doctor in the guise of paying the patient’s bills.
“The Commissioner of Police Delta State, CP Ari Muhammed Ali, received members of the Nigerian Medical Association Delta State Chapter in his office over the death of Dr. Uyi Iluobe, who was murdered in his hospital, Olivet Clinic, Oghareki, Oghara, Ethiope West LGA, Delta State on 29/12/2022.
“Preliminary investigation revealed that on the said date, a female patient whose name and address are not known, came to the hospital at about 1940 hours pretending to have abdominal pain.
“While the doctor was attending to her, she made a phone call to the suspects whom she deceptively invited to come and pay her bill and that she was being treated by the doctor.
“Moments later, the hoodlums stormed the hospital in a Toyota vehicle, entered the doctor’s office, and shot him twice in the chest, leading to his death.
“The purported female patient fled alongside the suspects.”
CP Ari, while extending his heartfelt condolences to the family members of the deceased medical doctor and NMA, reassured them that the case will be thoroughly investigated to ensure that the deserved justice is served.
