Who killed Iluobe?

Conflicting narratives about the gruesome killing of a medical doctor in Delta State on New Year eve raise questions about the thoroughness of police investigation and possible motivating factors behind the enterprise of crime in Nigeria. But the nut of this murder must be cracked earnestly if only to inform the design of the country’s security architecture as could prevent future reoccurrence, besides getting justice for the slain doctor’s family and associates.

Dr. Uyi Iluobe was the medical director of Olivet Clinic, a private hospital he ran in Oghareki, Ethiope-West council area of Delta State, and was gunned down by yet-to-be identified / apprehended assailants on 29th December, 2022. The circumstance of the killing is, however, in dispute between the late doctor’s colleagues and the Delta State Police Command that is hunting the killers. Even the facts of the incident are foggy. It was initially reported the dastardly act occurred on 31st December, whereas later reports put the date at 29th December. Besides, Iluobe’s colleagues in the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) waged the allegation that he was killed by relations of a gunshot victim treated at his hospital, who eventually didn’t make it through; though in later accounts, they said the victim survived but couldn’t pay the treatment bill and Iluobe had to enlist police help to get his money. On the other hand, the police said the murder was more likely the handiwork of cultists and not vengeance killing by aggrieved relations of a gunshot patient. But though these arguments were waged in conflictual terms, there is to my mind a common ground that could be a possible pointer to the killers.

Early last week, the doctors’ association issued a statement condemning the killing and wondering if it was a crime that Iluobe decided to render service on new year eve. The statement by NMA president, Dr. Uche Ojinmah, said: “The Nigerian Medical Association received with shock and sadness the news of the murder on December 31, 2022, of Dr. Iluobe by relatives of his patient at Oghara, where his practice is based. The above scenario being the response of the relatives to the loss of a patient from suspected gunshot injuries can never be justified and has taken violence against doctors and other healthcare workers from injuries to murder.” The statement added: “It is unbelievable that in the face of a debilitating medical brain drain, the few doctors who patriotically decided to stay back and take care of our fellow citizens are being murdered by same Nigerians…”

But the police in Delta State countered the narrative of vengeance killing by relations of a deceased patient, blaming the incident rather on suspected cultists. Police Commissioner Ari Mohammed Ali said initial findings showed that a lady who pretended to be sick and who Iluobe was attending to made a call to some persons to come pay her bills; whereas when those persons arrived at the hospital, they shot the doctor dead before leaving with the lady. A statement by command spokesman, Bright Edafe, a Deputy Superintendent of Police, cited Commissioner Ali as giving that report during a meeting with members of Delta State chapter of the NMA. The statement quoted him saying: “Preliminary investigation revealed that on the said date, a female patient whose name and address are not known came to the hospital at about 19:40hours pretending to have abdominal pain. While the doctor was attending to her, she made a phone call to the suspects whom she deceptively invited to come and pay her bill and that she was being treated by the doctor. Moments later, the hoodlums stormed the hospital in a Toyota vehicle, entered the doctor’s office and shot him twice in the chest, leading to his death. The purported female patient fled alongside the suspects.” The commissioner, however, assured that the police would track down those behind the brutal murder. Earlier, Edafe narrated to the media how two fellas stormed the hospital and asked one of the nurses where the doctor was; and when the nurse took them to the doctor’s office, they shot and killed him. “We suspect that the incident is connected to the cult crisis in Oghara. The reports that he (Iluobe) was killed by relatives of a patient are not true. The Delta State command has not received any complaint from anyone that they are suspecting relatives of a patient, and there was no time that anyone was rushed to the hospital that day and died,” the spokesman had said.

“Conflicting as narratives on Iluobe’s killing by the police, on one hand, and doctors on the other may seem, there is a potential common ground.” 

Doctors in the Delta State chapter of the NMA were, however, not persuaded by the police’s account. In a statement, they called on the police to thoroughly investigate the murder, alleging that Iluobe received threats from a treated and discharged gunshot patient who was unable to pay his medical bills last October, and faulting the police’s claim that the killing was cult-related. The doctors said in a statement by state Vice-Chairman Okwuze Anthony and Secretary Oge Nwokwule: “We gathered from the wife of the deceased that the doctor had a brawl with some patient’s relatives in the past due to their unwillingness to pay the accrued bill from services rendered by the doctor. We were also informed that sometime in October 2022, the deceased doctor treated a patient with gunshot wounds. On discharge, the patient refused to pay the accrued bill. The issue was reported to police authority in Oghara. It is alleged that the police assisted the doctor in recovering his money.” The statement added: “It was also alleged that the said patient threatened to deal with the doctor. NMA Delta State is reliably informed that there has been cases of threat to the life of the doctor by some youths of the community. On the day of the incident, a female patient and the doctor had a disagreement at the hospital; the female patient allegedly made a call after which some gunmen moved into the clinic and ordered everybody to lie face down. They approached the doctor and shot him twice in the chest and left with the lady, who had pretended to have severe abdominal pains, in a black Toyota salon car with tinted windows.”

Meanwhile, the South-south zone of  the NMA gave the police a five-day ultimatum to fish out Iluobe’s killers or they would shut down all hospitals in Delta State to protest the murder. In a statement, the South-south caucus chairman, Dr. Udoka Imoisili, and Secretary, Dr. Collins Otoikhila, also threatened disruption of medical services in the entire zone. The statement said inter alia: “While the South-south caucus/zone in conjunction with the Delta State branch of NMA is working hard to unravel the circumstances behind this unwarranted murder of a dutiful medical doctor, the zone strongly condemns this dastardly act and in the interim, resolves as follows: that relevant security agencies step up their efforts to arrest the perpetrators of this heinous crime within five days, after which the South-south caucus may not be able to guarantee rendering normal medical services in the entire zone.” The displeasure of the doctors must be appreciated. Only in February 2022, 36-year-old Dr. Otote Osaikhuomwan of the Department of Ophthalmology, University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH) was gunned down reportedly in the presence of his pregnant wife in the Edo State capital. That killing occasioned temporary disruption of UBTH operations as members of the Association of Resident Doctors (ARD) pulled their services in protest.

Conflicting as narratives on Iluobe’s killing by the police, on one hand, and doctors on the other may seem, there is a potential common ground. The police suspected that cultists were at work, whereas Iluobe’s colleagues fingered relations of an alleged gunshot patient. The police need to find out who that patient was – whether or not he/she survived the injury – and how he/she got the gunshot wounds. Ascertaining the identity of the mystery patient could unearth cultist links that may point the way to fellow cultists – either as relations or mere collaborators. In other words, if the police know how the mystery patient got his/her wounds, they may be close to unmasking Iluobe’s killers.