Military personnel enforcing the 48-hour curfew imposed Thursday by Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State have allegedly humiliated a medical doctor by forcing him to swim in a drainage along Effurun-Warri Road Effurun, Delta State.
It was gathered that the soldiers held the doctor while he was going to the hospital to attend to patients and forced him to swim in the murky water at gunpoint.
The victim, Dr. Raphael Onyemekehia, a consultant physician, was said to have presented his identity card to the military personnel but was still ordered to swim in the gutter for violating the curfew.
The doctor’s plea and explanation that the curfew exempted those on essential services, including medical personnel fell on deaf ears.
The soldiers threatened to shoot the doctor if he refused to swim in the gutter.
Dr. Onyemekehia was said to have swam for about 30 minutes before he was rescued by a senior military officer who ran into the scene.
The state chairman of the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA), Dr. Emmanuel Nwose, confirmed the development to journalists and condemned the assault on the medical doctor. He disclosed that he had reported the incident to the state governor, Dr. Okowa.
He called on the miliary to fish out the soldiers and prosecute them to serve as a warning to other overzealous military personnel.
The NMA chairman stated: “On his way to work he was beaten up by soldiers at Airport Junction in Effurun around 11am today (Saturday). The victim is Dr. Raphael Onyemekehia, a consultant physician. He reported to us and said the soldiers were without their name tags.
“When he got to the check point, he showed them his ID card and told them he was going to work but they refused him passage. Thereafter, they ordered him to swim in the murky water inside the gutter. Since they pointed gun at him, he had no option than to enter the water to swim.
“While he was swimming, they were flogging until a superior officer came and told them to allow him to go home. He sustained injuries. This is not acceptable to us. As doctors, we are essential workers and when we say we want to attend to patients, we should be allowed to do that.
“What we [NMA] are demanding is that those military personnel should be identified and brought to book. If nothing is done about this, we will be force to withdraw our services until our member gets justice.
“We are calling on the Delta State Government and the military authorities to fish out the soldiers that committed this crime and with necessary disciplinary action taken against them. Our member must be duly compensated or we will call for withdrawal of our services.”
Credit: NigerDeltaToday