•The tragic death of Somtochukwu Maduagwu, Arise News reporter/lawyer a metaphor of Nigeria

By EMMANUEL OGEBE, Esq

The tragic death of Somtochukwu Christelle Maduagwu, 29, Arise News anchor, producer, reporter, and lawyer on September 29, 2025, in a violent armed robbery at her home In Abuja is a metaphor of Nigeria at 65.

According to press reports, “allegations that Maitama General Hospital, one of Nigeria’s leading medical centers, turned her away for lack of identification—that have sparked grief, anger, and a desperate plea for answers…

Friends rushed her to Maitama General Hospital, clinging to hope. But according to her Arise News colleagues—Ojy Okpe, Reuben Abati, and Ayo Mairo-Ese—the hospital staff refused to treat her without identification. By the time someone brought the ID, Sommie was gone, moved to the morgue without a word to those fighting for her life.

The thought that a simple piece of paper could stand between a young woman and survival is unbearable.”

There are four things of note here. Sommie was a lawyer but the law did not avail her at the time she most needed it to – not from lawless criminals but official first responders.

Secondly she was also a British citizen and was entitled to free high quality healthcare in that country but the country she loved and moved to didn’t love and move to save her.

Thirdly, she managed to save herself from the robbers but then state failure killed her just like Adamawa farmer Sunday Jackson who saved himself from a Fulani herdsman’s attack only for the state to sentence him to death. Two citizens who saved themselves from evils Nigeria couldn’t save them from left to die by the Nigerian government.

Fourthly, she had the financial means to pay for her healthcare. Her colleague who’s a friend pays her house help six figures so money was not the object. Apathy killed her. If a prominent TV personality still requires ID then what hope is there for any Tomi, Dike and Hauwa?

Sadly this leads us back to another horrible case:

“Aisha Philibus was 25 years old and on the way up.

For the past six years, she survived in a makeshift camp for people who fled their homes to escape an ongoing massacre.

To hide the true scope of this growing humanitarian crisis, her own government calls victims like Aisha “criminals” and “beggars” and refuses to help them.

Aisha was smart. She accepted that nobody was coming to help. But she didn’t complain. Instead, she kept looking up, determined to work her way to a better life. She had a job, a side hustle, and a growing TikTok channel that was starting to attract sponsors. Aisha was excited. Her hard work was paying off, and her future was bright.

In September Aisha came down with a urinary tract infection. Internally displaced people like her are not supposed to pay for medical care. But because of corruption, it never works out that way. She had no real choice but to let the infection run its course and hope for the best.

But without treatment, Aisha got worse. Much worse. When her friends found her feverish and unconscious, they took her to Garki Hospital, near their camp in Abuja, the Capitol of Nigeria.

Corrupt staff there gave her just enough treatment to run up a bill, then stopped until her step-brother paid them a bribe equal to just a few hundred dollars.

Aisha’s loved ones tried to raise the funds but were unable. Desperate, they reached out for help to anyone who would listen. Finally, after several days, they found reason to celebrate. A charity would cover the full cost of her treatment, at a different hospital. Aisha would be ok! They arranged transport, excited she would finally get the care she needed.

But their celebration was short lived, because the corrupt staff at Garki Hospital would not release her for treatment at the other hospital unless their bogus bill was paid in full.

Remember, internally displaced people like Aisha are not supposed to pay for medical care. They are supposed to just fill out a form and the government pays the bill. The staff knew this. They wanted the shakedown money for themselves. Then they would fill out the form for the government to pay the hospital. A simple, evil scam.

Her loved ones felt trapped, powerless to fight back. All they could do was work even harder to raise the money.

In the meantime, lying in a hospital bed, with a treatable condition, yet untreated by corrupt hospital staff – for a scam of just a few hundred dollars – young, beautiful, hopeful, well-loved Aisha … died.

Burials are very important in their culture. Aisha’s heartbroken step-brother, her only living relative, built her a coffin from scrap lumber and readied a burial plot nearby.

And yet… the evil hospital staff now refused even to release her body to rest in peace without under-the-table payment of cold, hard cash.

Her step brother raised about half the amount, but they still wouldn’t let her go.

For three weeks, Aisha’s body lay where they had tossed it, like trash, on the floor in the corner of the morgue. They actually tagged this beloved young lady as “unidentified” and “unclaimed” to keep their scam hidden.

When Africa Arise Founder and CEO Mike Arnold heard about this, he just said one thing: “Let’s go get Aisha and bring her home.”” https://www.letusriseafrica.org/blog/rememberaisha

Aisha’s dead body was abducted and held hostage by government terrorists/bandits not in Sambisa but the nation’s capital.

The tragedy of It all is that it was another Abuja government hospital that killed Aisha from a survivable illness. If they had been held accountable for the death of an IDP, who knows if this would have saved the life of a VIP?

Sommie is remembered for having wondered why she returned to Nigeria and hoping Nigeria didn’t happen to her. A medic stated

“In med school, I picked an elective called Stress, thinking it would be about yoga and meditation. Instead, the professor spent six weeks showing us how poverty and being a minority literally break down your health at a molecular level.”

Nigeria is happening to all of us. Nigerians are suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD.) That’s why we’re highstrung. Decades of government molestation.

Recently I underwent an MRI. My doctors asked me whether I played sports in my youth because of injuries in my system. I played badminton and basketball but not to the extent of injuries. Then I remembered that I was tortured to unconsciousness at the Aso Rock presidential villa by Gen Abacha 29 years ago. The source of my back pain over the years only now revealed…

When I first arrived USA on exile decades ago, I was examined at a hospital for survivors of torture and they detected scars on my back that I personally hadn’t seen. Little did I know that I would discover more over a quarter century later.

We all bear scars of Nigeria’s happenings – visibly or invisibly, spiritually or physically, internally or externally.

In America, The Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA) is the primary federal law that requires hospitals to provide emergency care to anyone in need, regardless of their ability to pay or immigration status. Enacted in 1986, EMTALA mandates that hospitals participating in Medicare (which is almost all hospitals) provide a medical screening examination to anyone who comes to the emergency department and requests treatment for a medical condition.

Key Provisions of EMTALA:

- Stabilizing Treatment: If an emergency medical condition is found, the hospital must provide necessary stabilizing treatment before transferring or discharging the patient.

- Prohibition on Patient Dumping: Hospitals cannot refuse to treat or transfer patients based on their inability to pay or immigration status.

- Whistleblower Protections: EMTALA protects healthcare workers who report violations of the law.

- EMTALA violations can result in civil monetary fines and termination of a hospital’s Medicare provider agreement.

Nigeria does not lack rules and regulations though not as far reaching as the USA’s. Our problem, just like our constitution, is the failure or sabotage by its operators.

The U.S. govt has just shut down because Democrats insisted that the government must subsidize health insurance for American citizens. While members of Congress health insurance is secured, they were willing to fight to preserve and protect affordable healthcare for the citizenry.

Weeks ago we buried my Taraba son Nathan who survived five gunshots from Boko Haram in 2012. We provided four surgeries for him – all through my international contacts. No single assistance from the Nigerian government.

We must hold Garki Hospital accountable for IDP Aisha’s death just as we must hold Maitama General Hospital liable for VIP Sommie’s death. And we must free Sunday Jackson. Injustice to one is injustice to all. It is time for us to happen to Nigeria so Nigeria doesn’t happen to others and us again and again.

Like Nigerians, Sommie chose Nigeria over Great Britain and paid dearly with her very life.

•Award-winning international human rights lawyer Emmanuel Ogebe writes from Washington USA.