By Lucky Isibor
Members of the Medical Women Association of Nigeria (MWAN) in Edo State, last week protested the continuous detention of a Kaduna based medical practitioner, Dr. (Mrs) Ganiyat Popoola by hoodlooms and called for her immediate release.
Speaking while protesting the continuous detention of Dr. Popoola by the kidnappers at Irrua in Esan Central Local Government Area of the state, President of the association, Dr. Mrs Irene Akhideno decried the lukewarm attitude of the Federal and Kaduna State Governments to the plight of their kidnapped colleague.
Dr. Akhideno who was speaking at the palace of the Onojie of Irrua and Okaijesan of Esan land, Alhaji W. O. Momodu II, appealed for the intervention of both the Federal and Kaduna State Governments, the security agencies and traditional rulers across the country, to ensure the safe release of Dr. Popoola who was kidnapped while in her official at the National Eye Centre in Kaduna on 23rd December 2023.
“We call on the Federal and Kaduna State Governments to wake up and do the needful to ensure the safe release of our colleague, Dr. Ganiyat Popoola who was kidnapped in her clinic at the National Eye Centre in Kaduna on the 23rd of December 2023”.
“A conducive environment should be provided for medical personnel who save lives to practice, allowing Dr. Popoola to remain in the kidnappers den after eight months will further embolden other kidnappers to go for medical professionals in their nefarious activities”.
The protest by members of MWAN took please simultaneously at Irrua Specialist Hospital, Irrua, University of Benin Teaching Hospital and the Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital all in Benin City.
Responding, the Onojie of Irrua appealed to the kidnappers of Dr. Ganiyat Popoola to consider the patients she cares for, her children and family members and release her.
The Okaijesan also appealed to the protesting members of the Medical Women Association of Nigeria to be peaceful in their protest.
Ganiyat Popoola, a mother of five was kidnapped in Kaduna in December 2023, along with her husband and nephew. Though her husband was released in March this year, but Popoola and her nephew remain in captivity.
The National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) which has been campaigning for Popoola’s release since July, has threatened a nationwide strike if she is not free by August 26.