Gunmen kill medical doctor after collecting N30m ransom

Unknown gunmen, suspected to be hired assassins, on Sunday, killed a medical doctor, Stanley Uche, the proprietor of Victory Christian Hospital, Aba, Abia State.

The medical doctor, who had earlier been abducted by his assailants, was allegedly killed after his abductors had collected N30 million ransom from his wife. The deceased, a gynaecologist, who hails from Mbano in Imo State, was said to be travelling home with his wife on Friday for the burial of his younger sister when they were ambushed by their abductors who had trailed them from Aba.

The News Agency of Nigeria gathered that the slain medical doctor's wife was released later and ordered to source for N50 million to facilitate her husband's freedom. It was also gathered that the young lady only succeeded in delivering N30 million to the abductors on Monday morning at the agreed location.

Sources said that the lady, unaware that her husband had already been killed, had pleaded with the abductors to be allowed to see him, only to be taken to a spot where his corpse was dumped, which she was ordered to take away immediately.

There are speculations within the community that the medical doctor must have been a victim of hired assassins. The Abia State Police Public Relations Officer, Godfrey Ogbonna, told NAN that the command had received a report on the incident from the Osisioma Police Division. He said a team of crack police detectives had been deployed to the area to investigate the incident.

What a world !!

As Abia state government proclaimed amnesty for kidnappers operating in the state , medical doctors in Aba yesterday protested the murder of their colleague, Dr. Stanley Uche and the abduction of two others. The protest was expressed in the closure of both public and private hospitals in Aba for two days with effect from yesterday.The Aba based medical practitioner was said to have been murdered on Monday by gunmen suspected to be kidnappers after collecting millions of naira ransom from his wife, while the kidnapping of two physicians was said to have occurred between Wednesday night and Thursday morning.These incidents prompted the Aba zone of the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) to summon their members for an emergency meeting to express their anger at the spate of kidnappings and other violent crimes
occurring in Aba and its environs.The aggrieved physicians had intended to take their
protests into the streets of Aba but shelved the plan when the state commissioner
for Health, Dr. Okey Oga, arrived at the old site of Abia State University Teaching Hospital (ABSUTH), venue of the emergency meeting meant to precede the demonstrations. Oga passionately appealed to the doctors to shelve their plans as the state government was already engaged in devising strategy to tackle the menace. Dr. Uche of Christian Victory Hospital was killed on Monday while on his way tohis village in Imo state for the burial of his sister. He was killed by the hoodlums after collecting ransom from the doctor’s wife who was earlier kidnapped along with
her husband. The NMA Aba, in a communiqué issued at the end of its emergency meeting and signed by its chairman Dr. Godwin Uwaoma and secretary, Dr. Chris Nwachi, stated that in the past one year, “Not less than 20 doctors have been kidnapped in Aba making it impossible for doctors to discharge their humanitarian
services”. The medical practitioners expressed regret that the spate of kidnapping incidents have led to hospitals and clinics shutting down in Aba on a daily basis with doctors fleeing the city, adding that the situation had gone out of hand.