The death of 26-year-old nurse, Mary Habila, in her prime and in mysterious circumstances is both tragic and mind-numbing. That she met her untimely death in the country-home of the Minister of Works, Engr. David Umahi, in circumstances that remain inchoate make it all the more repugnant.
Habila was said to be a nurse at the David Umahi Federal University of Medical Sciences, Uburu, Ohaozara Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, but seconded to the minister and had been part of his medical team. She reportedly accompanied the minister to his country-home in Umunaga, Uburu, where she died on June 27, 2026, in a guest house located within the minister’s residence in yet-to-be-verified circumstances.
Expectedly, the tragic incident has set the ubiquitous social media abuzz with hoopla, with the pervasive calls for a thorough probe into the circumstances of death.
The death of such a stunner, a lady parading such volumptuous and curvaceous attributes, in the country-home of a public figure in the mould of a minister, is ordinarily bound to momentarily elicit eye-popping public scrutiny.
This case has stirred more than a passing interest because it is not the first time that Umahi would be courting a similar controversy that thoroughly confounded the public. Early this year, a businesswoman, Tracy Ohiri, publicly accused the minister of owing her over N200 million for promotional items she allegedly supplied during his campaign for a second-term reelection as governor of Ebonyi.
She also alleged that Umahi withheld payment because she rejected his sexual advances. Following her subsequent arrest by the police, however, the story suddenly changed. In a shocking volteface, Ohiri retracted her statement and issued a public apology to the minister.
In what many might have suspected to be a cant and possibly factitious contrivance to save the minister from embarrassment, the woman recanted, claiming that she did not sign any agreement with him and that her earlier claims were inaccurate. The story died there or so it seemed, but only a few were convinced that the sudden twist was not a subterfuge and humbug.
The ghost of that faux pas, which was not properly laid to rest, has returned to haunt the minister. It has remained etched in the subconscious of the public.
This is precisely why calls for a thorough probe into Habila’s mysterious death in his country-home have been vociferous and unrelenting. Indeed, nothing will do more justice to the matter than open, unbiased and comprehensive investigations that will establish the truth.
It is in the minister’s best interest that, that is done, in view of the cited antecedent. That is also why the minister and the authorities must overrule the position of the victim’s family, rejecting autopsy to be performed on their daughter’s body to establish the exact cause of death.
Umahi himself, from all indications, appreciates his precarious position; that he is walking a tight rope in this matter. And in fairness to him, he has done nothing, at least overtly, to suggest any attempt at cover up. Speaking to journalists last Thursday for the first time since the incident, Umahi described the late nurse as “like a daughter” to him and appealed to her family to allow an autopsy to determine the actual cause of death.
He said Habila had been nursing a health challenge over which he had supported the family for medical treatment in the last three years that she had been on his medical team.
According to the minister, Habila had complained of a nosebleed during a phone conversation with her boyfriend on the night before she died. He denied any accusation of attempted cover up because, according to him, the matter was promptly reported to the police.
Quite strangely, the victim’s father, Mr Tanko Habila, had sworn to an affidavit in which he reportedly averred that although Mr Umahi requested an autopsy on his late daughter’s body, the family does not consent to it.
“While I welcome steps being taken to unravel the cause of my daughter’s death,” he was quoted as saying, “my family and I will not accept any post-mortem on her body.
“It is my family’s wish and humble appeal, notwithstanding medical and investigation protocols, to leave her body and organs intact; hence this affidavit.”
Mr Habila explained that he and his family do not wish for further investigation into their daughter’s death as they do not suspect any foul play regarding her demise.
He instead formally requested that the Nigeria Police Force release his daughter’s body to the family for a proper burial. “I also wish not to proceed further with the investigation and request that my daughter’s body be released to me for burial,” he stated.
He maintained that he was never “induced, coerced or influenced in any way with anything or by anybody” to make the deposition. “Everything deposed here reflects the sincere wishes of my family and me,” he added.
However, while the family opposed autopsy and scheduled the burial for 17 July (last Friday), the police have insisted on proceeding. Joshua Ukandu, the police spokesperson in Ebonyi State, stated last Wednesday that the command was only awaiting the family or their representative, as required, before the examination could be carried out.
According to the police, lawyers representing the Minister of Works have also requested a comprehensive forensic autopsy to determine the exact cause of death before Habila’s body is released to her family for burial.
Mr Ukandu, a Superintendent of Police, assured that the investigation would be “thorough, transparent, and impartial” and that the command would provide updates as the case progresses.
A close friend of the deceased nurse, a physiotherapist and her colleague at the Federal Ministry of Works, Anita Baaki, also swore to an affidavit, recounting the events leading to her death and providing more details about the incident.
She averred in the affidavit reportedly filed before an Ebonyi State High Court, that the 26-year-old nurse appeared cheerful and retired to bed shortly before she was found unconscious the following morning.
Baaki said she travelled with Habila and other ministry officials from Abuja to Ebonyi State on June 24, 2026, for an official assignment under the Minister of Works, David Umahi.
She explained that they were accommodated in separate but adjoining rooms in a staff chalet within the minister’s country home in Uburu, stressing that the facility served as accommodation for ministry staff and associates, not the minister’s personal residence.
According to Baaki, she last saw Habila alive on the evening of June 26 after the nurse returned from having her hair done. She said Habila visited her room to show off her new hairstyle and the two chatted briefly before Habila said she was tired and wanted to take a shower before going to bed.
“Mary told me she was tired and wanted to take a shower before sleeping. That was the last time I saw her alive,” Baaki stated. She said concern arose the following morning when Habila failed to leave her room as expected and did not answer repeated phone calls.
After knocking on the door without any response, Baaki alerted a domestic staff member to search the premises. When Habila could not be found elsewhere, other staff members forced the room open.
Baaki said Habila was found unconscious on the floor near the entrance of her room and was immediately rushed to the David Umahi Federal University Teaching Hospital, where doctors confirmed she was dead on arrival.
She said her affidavit was made voluntarily to assist investigators in establishing the circumstances surrounding Habila’s death.
Habila’s family may think they are necessarily deferring to the minister by opposing autopsy on their daughter’s body probably because the minister might have been a benefactor to the family since he (Umahi) said he had picked some of her medical bills in the last three years she had been on his medical team, their action is actually deleterious to his image.
If the family succeed in whizzing the whole thing through by preventing a post-mortem on Habila’s body, they would have effectively sundered the strongest stake on which the minister’s innocence or otherwise in this matter is tethered.
In other words, the result of an autopsy transparently conducted, among other revelatory snippets establishing the circumstances of the Habila’s death as probably natural or otherwise, is what can absolve Umahi from any culpability in this matter.
That is why the nurse’s family’s rather fatuous objection to autopsy must be overruled and investigations by the police into the circumstances of death must not only be open, credible and transparent but must be seen to be so. Only then can justice be seen to have been sufficiently served.