The encounter between members of the Nigeria Medical Association, Imo State chapter, and the state government over the concession of health institutions in the state on Thursday turned bloody following the shooting of a renowned physician, Dr. Bede Azudialor, by the police.
Bede, an employee of the Federal Medical Centre, Owerri, was allegedly shot in the head by a yet-to-be identified police officer during a protest in Owerri by the NMA against the policies of the government. The victim was first rushed to the emergency unit of the FMC, from where he was moved to the Intensive Care Unit and later taken to an undisclosed hospital. The state Chairman of the Nigerian Guild of Doctors, Dr Darlington Akukwu, thereafter announced a three-day warning strike by doctors in the state in protest against the alleged police brutality of their colleague. He called on the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Solomon Arase, to compel the Commissioner of Police in the state, Taiwo Lakanu, to produce the culprit who perpetrated the act, just as he pleaded with President Muhammadu Buhari for a thorough investigation into the matter. Akukwu warned that failure to produce the trigger-happy police officer would provoke an indefinite strike.
 

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