Gunmen have attacked the Federal Medical Centre (FMC) in Lokoja, Kogi State, disrupting a COVID-19 press briefing scheduled to hold at the premises on Wednesday morning.
According to reports, the press briefing was called to demand a COVID-19 screening centre in Kogi.
According to a Facebook post by Fisayo Soyombo, a Nigerian investigative journalist and former Editor of The Cable, dozens of plain-clothed gunmen arrived the hospital in three white Hilux vans and terrorize the staff.
Soyombo’s post reads:
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“Dozens of plain-clothed gunmen who arrived in three white Hilux vans have just finished terrorising staff of the Federal Medical Centre, Lokoja, who were planning a press conference/protest to pressure FG into establishing a COVID-19 screening centre in the state.
“One van barricade the hospital entrance while the other two drove in. The gunmen shot sporadically into the air to scare people away, then went to the records and admin departments, where they seized laptops and destroyed a few things. They ransacked the Medical Director’s office too.
“As the siege went on, the hospital management instructed the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) officials in the hospital not to shoot, to prevent bloodshed.
“I understand the hospital associations have told all staff to evacuate the hospital. This means the hospital has effectively shut down, which is terrible news to ordinary Kogi people without the economic power to seek medical care in private hospitals.”
