Calabar, March 13, 2020 The Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Cross River chapter, has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to declare a state of emergency on security in Cross River.
Chairman of NMA in the state, Dr Agam Ayuk, made the call on Friday during a peaceful protest to demand the release of the wife of their colleague, Mrs Christian Ekanem.
Ekanem is a staff of the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital and was kidnapped on March 10 in her home in Calabar.
Ayuk said that from 2017 to date, no fewer than 15 medical doctors and their dependents have been kidnapped within the state.
Ayuk explained that the association took a resolution to withdraw its services without notice, following the increasing rate of kidnapping of its members after its emergency meeting in 2018.
“We are calling on Buhari and the Inspector General of Police as a matter of urgency to declare a state of emergency on security in Cross River.
“We also call on the Federal Government to mobilise the needed manpower and resources to help in curbing the rate of insecurity in the state.
“Security forces have the capacity but they cannot work with their hands, it is an open secret that they do not have all they need to do the work they are supposed to do.
“We call on Buhari, who is the Commander-in-Chief to mobilise the resources at the centre and also help the state,” he said.
The chairman said that members of the association in the state had withdrawn all medical services until the wife of their colleague is released unconditionally.
“This 14 kilometre walk is to seek for support and also ask the government to do more in protecting lives and properties in the state.
“We are not safe anymore; we believe that the government can do more in using the necessary machination to ensure that we have a safer Cross River.
“Cross River as a state used to be a place where people come to live and be at rest; we want it to go back to where it was.
“We are out here to tell the public that enough is enough. We call on Non-Government Organisations and Civil Societies to join in the struggle for a safer Cross River,“ he said.
