In the early hours of Tuesday, gunmen invaded the Abdulsalam Abubakar General Hospital in Gulu, Niger State.
According to reports, the gunmen who killed two people also kidnapped many others, including the hospital’s doctor and pharmacist.
Nda Mohammed, an eyewitness, told our correspondent that the event occurred at 2am and that gunfire woke up the neighborhood’s residents, who immediately began to flee for safety.
“They came in the midnight and started shooting, people woke up from sleep in the area and started running for their lives, then they went into the hospital and packed as many people as they wanted including the doctor and left”.
“One of the people they killed is a former staff in the hospital who lives opposite the hospital. I don’t know his other name but we all call him Ya-Tachi
“Nobody stopped them and no security agent showed up not even the local vigilance group members came,” Mohammed added.
The head of Peri Op and his wife, the head of clinical, Dr. John, the director of haematology, Usman Zabbo, the head of medical laboratory, the wife and daughter of the chief pharmacist, and other patient relations are among those who have been abducted.
The incident was confirmed by the state governor, Abubakar Bello, in a news release issued by his chief press secretary, Mary Noel-Berje.
“The recent attack and killing of some persons at Gulu General Hospital and the abduction of unspecified numbers of innocent people including medical personnel are callous, inhuman and condemnable.
“We are deeply concerned about the recent rise in armed banditry and kidnappings in Gulu communities when we are rejoicing and consolidating in the successes so far recorded in other affected areas, but as a responsible government we’ll not rest on our oars until we triumph over evil,” the governor said.
Bello bemoaned the recent wave of unrest in that region of the state, adding that the targeted attack on the hospital is unfortunate and highlighting the necessity for quick, stepped-up security operations to prevent impeding the efficient provision of healthcare in the area.
As a result, he urged the state’s Joint Security Taskforce to put an end as soon as possible to the frequent armed banditry, kidnappings, and indiscriminate attacks on a number of communities in the Lapai Local Government Area’s Gulu.
