Delta Commissioner, Joseph Otumara, Slaps Female Nurse

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field-type-filefield field-field-page-image">           caption:  Dr. Joseph Otumara         By Amour Egodibie Amour           The Delta State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Joseph Otumara, last week descended on a female nursing officer at the Central Hospital in Warri, Mrs. Akata Oghenero, and slapped her for taking a phone call.

Nurses at the hospital have reacted to the commissioner’s unprofessional conduct by embarking on a strike action pending when a state-wide strike would commence.

 

Similarly, the Forum for Justice and Human Rights Defence (FJHD) in Delta State, has threatened to drag the commissioner to court if he fails to tender an unreserved apology to the nurse or resign from office.

This reporter reliably gathered that the physical assault on Mrs. Oghenero took place at the gynecologist ward of the hospital in front of other nurses and officials of the Ministry of Health who watched helplessly.

In her account, a senior nurse in the hospital who pleaded for anonymity stated, “On 29 March, 2012, while Mrs. Akata Oghenero, a Nursing Officer II at the Central Hospital, Warri was on duty in the Gynae ward of the said hospital, the Health commissioner, Dr. Joseph Otumara, and his entourage came into the said ward and, in the process, Mrs. Oghenero, in company of some student nurses who were present, immediately stood up to acknowledge his presence, while the commissioner and his entourage walked through to the maternity ward.  Shortly after a while Mrs. Oghenero received an emergency call on her mobile phone and she was on the phone all of a sudden she got a severe slap on her right check. Lo and behold she was shocked on turning her face to discover that the slap was from the Health commissioner Dr. Joseph Otumara."

The source said the helpless Mrs. Oghenero at that point “burst into an uncontrollable cry.”

As if that was not enough, it was gathered that the permanent secretary and the Hospitals Management Board, Asaba, swung into action by trying to track down the identity of the nurse and pacify their boss by issuing her a query or possibly firing her.    

Relaible sources close to the ministry who confided in this reporter disclosed that such incident was not the first time adding that Otumara is synonymous with such unholy act.

In a press statement in Asaba signed by the group’s national coordinator, Mr. Oghenejabor Ikimi, FJHD disclosed that it has received a protest letter from the Warri chapter of the National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives.  It is entitled “Letter of protest: Physical Assault on the person of Mrs. Akata Oghenero, a Nursing Officer II at the Central Hospital, Warri by Dr. Joseph Otumara, Hon Commissioner for Health, Delta State,” and was signed by Comrade Ojei J.O, the Central Hospital, Warri Unit chairman of the association.  

According to FJHD, “Assuming, without conceding that Mrs. Akata Oghenero had committed an offence while Dr. Joseph Otumara was visiting, slapping a nurse on duty is definitely not one of the ways to discipline an erring public officer and, as such, we call on the said Health Commissioner to publicly tender an unreserved apology to the said Mrs. Akata Oghenero or, in the alternative, resign his appointment as he is not a fit and proper person to hold a public office.”

The group stressed that it will not hesitate to enforce the fundamental rights of Mrs. Oghenero on her behalf and claim damages at large against Dr. Joseph Otumara should he fail to adhere to their demands.

All efforts by this reporter to contact Dr. Otumara by telephone or text messages to obtain a comment have failed, but one of his aides who did not want his name mentioned in this story said he was unaware of the incident, but asserted that his boss could not have descended so low as to assault a hospital nurse.

It would be recalled that in Asaba about five years ago, Dr. Otumara confronted a Vanguard reporter, Austin Ogwuda, for reporting his inability to recite the second stanza of the national anthem during his screening as commissioner-designate at the House of Assembly.

 



SaharaReporters

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