By joshua 
NMA Condemns EFCC Raid On UUTH, Task Tinubu To Open Public Enquiry Into Invasion By EFCC Operatives
……Alleges Harassment of Medical Professionals
By Ikhili Ebalu, Benin city
The Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) on Friday raised strong concerns regarding what it described as unwarranted assaults on doctors and health workers, citing a recent incident at the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital (UUTH).
According to a press statement released by the NMA, agents of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) invaded the UUTH premises on Tuesday, May 12, 2026, in a manner the NMA characterized as reckless amd unacceptable.
The NMA statement, signed by its National Publicity Secretary Prof. Olayinka Atilola alleged that the EFCC’s operation was not focused on apprehending a financial crime syndicate. Instead, the NMA claims the EFCC’s target was the Deputy Chairman Medical Advisory Committee (DCMAC), Prof. Eyo Ekpe, a senior medical consultant.
President of the NMA Prof. Afekhide Ernest Omoti, who condemned the EFCC’s actions
stated that the NMA leadership is demanding an explanation for the EFCC’s actions and is calling for measures to protect healthcare professionals from harassment and intimidation while performing their duties.
The NMA described the UUTH incident as part of a disturbing trend of unwarranted targeting of medical personnel and is committed to defending its members against such actions.
The NMA added that “from the official statement by Mr. Dele Oyewale, the EFCC’s Head of Media and Publicity, the reason why EFCC had to resort to the arbitrariness of invading the hospital, attacking doctors and other health workers in the course of their duty and whisking the DCMAC of the hospital away into detention was because of their frustration with perceived delays in the authentication of a medical report purportedly obtained from the hospital by a certain accused person in EFCC custody.
“While the current wrongful assault of doctors and other health workers in the course of duty was by the EFCC and at UUTH, the incident itself has, unfortunately, become just another one of a growing series of attacks on doctors and other health workers across the country. These attacks further compound the existing burden of poor remuneration, shambolic working environment, unhealthy work load and rising global security risk in the country- which have already demotivated and alienated many doctors and health workers from the Nigerian healthcare system, hence the mass exodus to perceived greener pastures. ”
The NMA leadership maintained that, ” the arrest and assualt is deeply disturbing and indeed embarrassing (on behalf of the EFCC leadership) that a government security agency of the stature of the EFCC will choose to abandon due process, professionalism, global best practice and common decency and recourse to random choice, personal whim, and primitive impulse- devoid of reason and logic- in a simple process of mere authentication of a medical report from a public hospital.
“The leadership of NMA will no longer fold its hands while the few doctors and health workers who have chosen to stay back and salvage the precariously fragile health system in Nigeria to be brutalized, harassed, maimed or killed in the course of their sacred duty.
“The NMA leadership therefore condemns, in the strongest possible terms, the reckless and barbaric behaviours displayed by operatives of the EFCC within the premises of UUTH against medical personnel in the course of their daily duty of rendering life-saving services. We have also declared full and complete support for the Akwa Ibom State branch of the NMA in all the current lawful measures the Branch has taken so far, including the ongoing indefinite strike embarked upon by all doctors in the state. ”
The NMA President further directed that henceforth, in the case of any event of unlawful and unwarranted harassment of any doctor in the course of duty elsewhere, the leadership of all State and FCT Branches of NMA where such incidents occur must demand the identification and prosecution of any such aggressor, be it state or private actors, as a minimum demand for continued industrial harmony.
The NMA leadership also called on the President of the Federal Republic, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to direct the Chairman of the EFCC, Mr Ola Olukoyede, to open a public enquiry into the entire saga of invasion of UUTH by the EFCC, with a view to identify and reprimand the officers involved in the violent disruption of the hospital environment and harassment of doctors and other health workers in the hospital.
” This should be a precursor to other forms of compensatory redress to the victimized doctors and health workers.More broadly, the NMA demands that, for continued industrial harmony within the health sector, the Federal and State governments as well as Management of public and private hospitals should put in place measures to protect doctors from incessant harassment.
Prof. Omoti urged the governments to enact and enforce special legislations that categorize hospitals as a protected zone and violence against healthcare workers as a cognizable serious and non-bailable offense with significant penalties, as strong deterrence.
He added that the presidency should issue an executive order directing police and other law enforcement to redirect all complaints regarding medical negligence or misconduct to appropriate regulatory bodies (such as the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria) rather than through immediate police intervention, which can and have serially led to abuse of police power.
“Furthermore, the Federal and State Ministries of Health must urgently direct all Management of public hospitals in Nigeria to mandatorily institutionalize a First Information Reports system- whereby the Hospital Management is the first to report an incident immediately upon harassment and set the process of criminal justice in motion, rather than placing the burden on the victimized doctor or health worker.
“In addition, the management of public hospitals across the country must put in place a written and actionable Zero-Tolerance Policy regarding verbal and physical abuse of staff. They must also set up dedicated units to immediately handle complaints, medicolegal emergencies, and cases of patient-related aggression.”Prof Omoti stated.
The leadership of NMA empathized with all doctors and health workers who have been a victim of workplace violence and harassment and we promise that the NMA will do everything possible to secure equitable redress.