Members of the University Graduate Nurses Association (UGONSA) have called on the police to carry out a more detained investigation into the murder of Mrs. Maria Amadai, who until her death was the head of nursing services, Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Enugu.

They made the stand at a press briefing in Enugu on Wednesday by the association’s National and State officials.

National Secretary of the body, Nurse Goodluck Nshi, and the Enugu State Secretary of the body, Nurse Nwodo Chijioke, told journalists that their demand was based on revelations by a member of the vigilante services in the area where their colleague was murdered.

According to him, one Evangelist Tochukwu Obiora (alias Iko Nso), who disclosed that he is the Assistant State Commander of Enugu State Neighborhood Watch, had told a delegation of UGONSA leadership that the police were yet to act on the information he gave them with regards to the incident.

He said UGONSA leadership had visited Obiora, where he alleged that the police were yet to do the right thing.

“Evangelist Obiora told us that the story about the involvement of some employees of the Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital Enugu (FNHE) in the murder of Nurse Amadi (for which some of them are presently incarcerated in Enugu prison) looks like a fabrication made by some workers to get at others, following the protracted crisis that has been rocking the hospital.

“He told us that the intelligence he had so far gathered is strongly narrowing his suspicion to a gang of armed robbers that have been terrorising Trans-Ekulu in the recent time as those behind the unfortunate incident,” Nshi said.

He said based on the above information, the Union, “is not just condemning the gruesome killing of their colleague, but also seeking rreal justice anchored on verifiable truth and not a hearsay or token justice rooted on sentiments and vendetta.

“We in the nursing community are critically hit by the unfortunate incident because the deceased is a nurse and two out of the three persons that are currently incarcerated in Enugu Prison are nurses. The persons that are currently in detention were arrested on the premise that the late Nurse Amadi made a statement in which she mentioned their names as her killers but investigations have revealed that she never mentioned any person’s name.”

“Our hearts bleed the more because we are like a father whose daughter was murdered and when he cried out that the murderers should be hunted and brought to book, his remaining daughter and son were, instead, accused of being the killers of their sister over unverifiable stories and thus got arrested and incarcerated.

“Since it has been verily established that late Nurse Maria Amadi never mentioned the names of anybody as her killers or as people that sent assassins to kill her, we demand that the people that are currently in detention over the allegation that she mentioned their names be forthwith released while investigation should be extended to unravel the rightful culprits.

“We salute the courage and boldness of Evangelist Tochukwu Obiora, the Chief Security Officer of Ugboye and Ugbowa Abakpa Neighbourhood Watch and the Assistant Commander of Enugu State Neighbourhood Watch, for coming out at this auspicious moment, against all odds, to give useful information about the circumstances and persons involved in the gruesome murder of our colleague.

“We passionately call on the government of Enugu State and all the security agencies to approach Evangelist Tochukwu Obiora and collaborate with him to get the alleged culprits arrested and brought to book for the interest of justice to the deceased and the entire nursing community as a whole,” they further stated.

Recall that Late Nurse Maria Amadi, Head of Nursing Services, Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital Enugu and a mother-of-two, was allegedly shot dead on Thursday, March 21, 2019 at about 4pm at Federal Housing Estate, Trans-Ekulu, Enugu, by unknown gunmen.

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